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Pentagon Releases Bin Laden Videos From Compound Raid

Aired May 07, 2011 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: You have to help me out here, Fred. Do we have the videos now loaded, and are we able to show them to our viewers?

FREDRICKA WHITEFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, no, we do not.

STARR: We do not? OK.

WHITFIELD: We do not have them ready to go.

STARR: This is -- then what you're seeing -- I -- I want to explain -- is the opening screen of the material that we were shown.

One of them is essentially labeled as Osama Bin Laden's message to the American people.

The second one -- the middle one in the top, when we play that for you, that will be Osama Bin Laden watching himself on TV. As far as we can determine, that little screen you see is the satellite channel screen from his satellite TV reception. We think that it will show very clearly he starts by watching Al Jazeera.

The one to the right will be Osama Bin Laden in front of an armoire beginning to broadcast a message. They have determined the armoire was there.

Let's watch.

WHITFIELD: Let's watch that right now. We are rolling that tape.

STARR: You will not hear audio.

WHITFIELD: Perhaps you can talk over it and explain?

STARR: I will do that. You will not hear the audio because they did not want to broadcast it. This is the one, I believe -- yes, this is essentially Osama Bin Laden's message to the American people. We only see a snippet. We are told that he, again, attacks capitalism. He basically attacks the United States. His typical message is -- again, a dyed black beard. This is Osama Bin Laden ready for primetime. He's very conscious of his image. He wants to show himself to the world as a very capable, in-control leader. This is the typical Osama Bin Laden that the world has been so used to viewing over the last ten years. So we'll let this one play out for a minute. I think we're just going to go on to the next ones in line.

WHITFIELD: And roughly about how long was each snippet that they were able to show you?

STARR: These were just in a matter of perhaps a minute or so. It must be understood, again -- the U.S. Government has much more material in hand that they are going through. They've assembled an entire intelligence task force across the government to look at this in every way, shape or form they can.

WHITFIELD: So when intelligence officials were explaining this clip, for example, this exemplified his composure that he would dye his beard, that he was conscientious of his looks?

STARR: It's dyed black, nice background, he's clearly reading off a script. It has been rehearsed, we know, because we've seen the outtakes where things don't go so well. So he wants to show the world very, very much in control of the message that he is delivering. I think the black beard is the most fascinating. Somewhere this guy is in this compound getting his beard all ready for television, showing it black, because in a minute, we will show you Osama Bin Laden not ready for primetime. A much more candid Osama Bin Laden that I don't think the world has seen in nearly a decade. I think that will be the next one.

WHITFIELD: You wonder if the dyeing, if it's as simple as vanity or it means trying to look consistent over the years because there has been such a great time that he has been doing these tapes.

STARR: There are so many rumors about him being ill, injured after he escaped from Tora Bora. I suspect it's a combination of both. The official briefing us told us that Osama Bin Laden very much wanted to be -- he was image-conscious, very much conscious of the image he presented to the world. And, of course, the image that he presented to the rest of al Qaeda around the world.

If he was going to recruit people to fight on his behalf, he had to be able to show himself clearly as capable and in control. We can only suspect how much and how interesting he was in showing that he was still able to generate public interest. You know. This is going on a bit longer than what we saw in the briefing. We were shown very quick snippets in the briefing. Still, we don't have the audio. So we don't know exactly what he is saying here. But this is being characterized, again, as his message to the American people.

WHITFIELD: And this is a feed that's coming from the Department of Defense right now. So we don't have any control over the length that's being shown or when it may suddenly just kind of drop out and change picture to.

STARR: It will, I suspect, go to that. It will go to that second video clip that's going to be -- I think is just going to be absolutely fascinating to watch. While this is playing, though, let me tell you, they also told us a bit more about how they identified Osama Bin Laden after he had been killed. That they were able to achieve 95 percent facial recognition by matching the characteristics of the shape of the eyes, the ears, the nose once he had been killed, that the DNA analysis that was done after he was killed. This was perhaps most fascinating -- became a positive match within the ratio of one to 11.8 quadrillion.

I have to tell you, the room erupted in laughter when the briefer told us the 11.8 quadrillion. Nobody knows how many zero's that is. But it goes to what their belief is and it's why they're briefing the news media today.

Clearly, they wanted to come out -- once President Obama made the decision not to show any of the photos to the world of a dead Osama Bin Laden which by all accounts are rather gruesome -- they wanted to say what they could to demonstrate how far they went, what lengths they went to prove he had been there and that he had been killed by the Navy SEALs who assaulted the compound.

So as we continue to look at this, he had broadcast facilities. We don't know exactly when this tape was made. But you know, I can tell you, CNN crews over the years -- I've talked to our own crews. They've looked at the tapes and a television crew can tell you, he had lighting, he had audio. He had a set-up that was fairly respectable in terms of broadcast. And he was able to get his message out.

They believed he used couriers a lot. They believe he used thumb drives. There was no internet access at this compound, no television. Clearly there were satellite TV dishes. But they didn't want to radiate, if you will, any signals out of the compound that the U.S. intelligence community might be able to pick up on and be able to hone in on them.

Of course, there's every reason to believe that the final clue about the compound did come from an intercepted phone call perhaps made by one of the couriers that they were tracking to this compound, one of his most trusted couriers over the years, a Kuwaiti man who lived there with him, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Now did you say no land line telephones, only cell phones or vice versa?

STARR: No telephone service there.

WHITFIELD: Zero?

STARR: The couriers had cell phones but they went some distance away, we understand, before they would even use their cell phones. They exercised a lot of operational control at this facility to make sure they put out no signals that the U.S. intelligence community could even begin to intercept.

So we're back at this screen now. Everybody's just going to have to bear with us because this is a feed being provided by The Pentagon here today from the Obama Administration. Ah, this is it.

This is going to be fascinating. You are watching a satellite television, we believe, in the compound, satellite TV, the channel selection. We believe he is watching Al Jazeera, if we look at it very closely. You will see the -- whoever is shooting this with a camera will pull out to a wider shot. And you're going to see an Osama Bin Laden I don't think any of us have ever seen. Gray, white/gray beard, white/gray hair, blanket around his shoulders, a knit cap, intently, intently watching himself on TV, looking at different pictures of himself being broadcast on TV.

The message here that the Administration is saying is all of this goes to how much he was cognizant and watchful of his own public image.

WHITFIELD: So Barbara, let me let you hold that thought for a second.

And I want to welcome our viewers around the world now as we're being simulcast on CNN INTERNATIONAL and CNN DOMESTIC as well. If you're just now joining us, what we're seeing here is videotape that the Department of Defense and the United States at The Pentagon is sharing, has shared with reporters at an intelligence briefing that took place last hour.

And this is videotape that was seized from the compound of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan at the time of the raid of that compound at the time of the killing of Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the al Qaeda network. Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr was in that briefing room. She's with us now. You're hearing her voice as she explains the videotape, the significance of the videotape and that The Pentagon, the intelligence officials did not allow the viewing of the videotape with audio. Picture only. But the intelligence sources there, personnel at that meeting, did a great job of explaining what was taking place in this video that you will see a different kind of Osama Bin Laden than the public is generally used to seeing.

You will see, as Barbara is about to explain, him actually viewing television, watching the satellite -- via satellite, watching the television coverage around the world as it pertained to stories involving him and his images. Barbara, I'll let you pick it up from there.

STARR: Fred, sorry to have interrupted you, let me jump in. You are about to see Osama Bin Laden as perhaps you are never seen him before, candidly watching himself on TV. What is so interesting about this picture, there he is, white beard, white/gray beard, white/gray hair, not dyed as he normally would appear in any public broadcast. He is sitting in front of a television, blanket around his shoulders, a knit cap, we believe, on his head, intently watching himself on TV, sort of nodding up and down. What is so fascinating here is this is not the public face of Osama Bin Laden.

At one point on this video, you are going to see also something very interesting. He will gesture with his left arm. We asked about that because over the years there had been a lot of rumor indication, speculation, whatever you want to call it that he had suffered a serious injury to his left arm, perhaps years ago when he left Tora Bora when he was attacked up there. In some videos, he had not shown movement in his left arm. And that had led to some speculation, again, that he had suffered a permanent injury.

We'll see him stroke his beard. Not a lot of movement. But you will see him move his left arm. So that's just another clue to perhaps look for. There he is hunched over a TV, watching himself so intently on a number of satellite channels, watching a broadcast of himself and how he is being portrayed on television. This by all accounts, we believe to be a satellite reception.

Nobody -- the belief is it is in the compound where he was finally found. I don't know that there's a final determination on that. But the video is part of what we were shown today as to what was found in the compound. A fascinating picture to the world. WHITFIELD: And again, the Department of Defense is actually feeding this videotape -- that's why we have no control over how we see it, when they are changing over to new tapes. We've seen now two as Barbara Starr is now explaining what was explained during that Pentagon briefing. Go ahead, Barbara.

STARR: In a minute, you're going to see the next one come up, which the thumbnail -- there we go. On the upper right of your screen. Now, what is interesting about this one, we're back to the black dyed beard, the more formal appearance of Osama Bin Laden, obviously reading from some sort of script, a message -- this was very quick.

That armoire, we are told, matches, they believe, an armoire found in the compound. They have every reason to believe, therefore, this video was made in the compound because the furniture matches. So that's another indication of kind of the level of detail of what we have been told here today.

I want to go back -- everybody's just going to have to bear with us because we're going through all our notes here of what was said. At least one of the videos -- and they're not telling us why. That first video -- I want to go back -- here we are, another one. This is the outtake. You see him looking to the side, the light goes bad. He's missed a cue. There's a lighting problem. And he starts over. So what this goes to is there are people around him running the equipment, running the lights, camera, audio, whatever it is. There are people around him, at least one, running this equipment.

WHITFIELD: Barbara, this is the first tape that we saw. And you were explaining that what was remarkable here is that he had the dyed beard. Formal dress. He was very conscience his of his appearance. Why do you suppose and what did intelligence officials say during that briefing to explain why it was important for them to reveal these five videos, these various images of Osama Bin Laden, video only, without the audio?

STARR: Well, they tell us -- this is quite important, that they are not going to broadcast the audio to the world because the Obama Administration, the United States Government does not want to be in the position of broadcasting his audio, broadcasting his messages to the world. So everybody needs to be very aware.

We are indeed only seeing what the United States Government has chosen to show us. Whether it's this video of him watching himself on TV, the prepared messages. This is prepared and distributed by the United States Government. This is what we were shown in a briefing. We do not have any direct knowledge of any of the other videos or the other material that was found. They want to show it, they tell us, to demonstrate the mission they accomplished at the compound, that he was there, that they killed him. They gave us some details about how they identified the body, and what this says about his control and his level of control over al Qaeda in terms of being in charge and their detailed planning.

That very first video, they had another interesting detail which they're not explaining how they know. But the Senior Intelligence Official that briefed the news media said that first video, the message to the American people, they believe, was made between October ninth and November fifth of last year. That's pretty specific. They may have a date stamp of some sort on the tape. There may be indications on parts of the tape that we are not being shown, audio indications. We simply don't know.

It is very important to remember that the American public is being shown what the Obama Administration has decided to show them. Again, the reason being, they say, to show the world the Osama Bin Laden that they killed at that compound Fred.

WHITFIELD: And so Barbara, was there any revealed psychology in that briefing room at The Pentagon as to why Osama Bin Laden may have recorded a message directed to the U.S. at the time of October ninth and November fifth? What was going on in the world that he may have been responding to or what kind of message was he perhaps trying to convey at that time?

STARR: Yes, you know, I have to be candid with you. I don't think we know the answer to that. It certainly wasn't offered in the briefing. His messages have been sporadic at best. And I think in recent months, certainly, if not years, they have mainly been audio recordings from him. It's been a long time -- and we've never seen this Osama Bin Laden, the candid Osama Bin Laden hunched over, looking into the TV, to see how he's played on television broadcasts. It's really quite remarkable.

WHITFIELD: That's interesting, too. Did intelligence officials say anything about how remarkable, odd it may appear to be that he would have someone videotaping him watching the satellite images of him on various networks around the world?

STARR: Yes, what was he going to do with this video? Was he going to broadcast himself to the world --

WHITFIELD: Which would be the antithesis image that he's been crafted in those other prepared statements, reading a script. What would we want to do with this video?

STARR: Yes. What would we want to do with all of this. We have reason to believe there are other videos out there of him in perhaps candid moments around the compound that were not seen. All I can tell you is that the Senior Intelligence Official who briefed us continued to talk about the notion that Bin Laden was very conscious of his image.

I'm no forensic psychologist, but I suppose people in these positions like to have a video record at various points. This was a huge intelligence take on the part of the United States. They are calling everything they got there, the videos, the thumb drives, the documents, the handwritten documents, the largest single intelligence take, if you will, from a senior target that they have ever had. So they are going through this, all of it, bit by bit to see what they can learn. It's very important to point out we only have a bit of it.

WHITFIELD: And then, quickly, aside from the videos that were revealed at this Pentagon briefing, also a better explanation about the DNA evidence that the man that was killed was indeed that of Osama Bin Laden. What more was said about that?

STARR: Well let's go back a minute. This one in 11.8 quadrillion chance they made a mistake, over the years, they had gathered DNA from Bin Laden's very large extended family around the world, certainly according to the sciences, I understand it, from female relatives. It has to be remembered, there are members of the Bin Laden family who had disowned him for years, had absolutely nothing to do with him, people who, by all accounts, lead respectable lives and have suffered in their lives by having this last name.

So there had been people who had been willing in his family to provide DNA with the anticipation of this day that they would need it. They took DNA from the dead Osama Bin Laden, we are told, compared it to family members they got it from. And they tell us unquestionably, there was a one in 11.8 quadrillion chance that it was not a match. Their feeling is that's pretty positive.

They did the facial recognition that we've talked about, comparing his eyes, his nose, his ears to known photographs of him. He was disfigured when he was killed. They shot him above the left eye. Part of his skull, by all accounts, blown away. But apparently enough left for them to do that. And, of course, there was a woman in the compound who verbally identified him as Osama Bin Laden.

We also know one of the Navy SEALs laid down on the floor next to the dead body to try and get some assessment of his height. Osama Bin Laden having been well over six feet tall. The SEALs didn't have a tape measure with them. So the best they could improvise was to have one of them lay down next to the dead body and make an assessment as to how tall he was.

WHITFIELD: All right, Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr.

If you're just now joining us, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. We're broadcasting around the world now here at CNN.

This was Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. She was among about 50 journalists who were in a room in The Pentagon viewing intelligence-gathering that is being revealed by the Obama Administration, tape only, no audio, of five videotapes that were gathered from the Osama Bin Laden compound at the time of the killing of the leader of al Qaeda.

And Barbara has been explaining the significance of this intelligence-gathering, that officials are saying this is the greatest intelligence haul from any one single operation ever and that much is being learned about the intelligence -- much is being learned about the operation of al Qaeda and perhaps this kind of intelligence- gathering will also lead to other targets.

Back to our Barbara Starr, Pentagon Correspondent now. Back to Barbara now, a little bit more information that you're learning that you want to share?

STARR: Yes, Fred, I think the other point that is interesting is what they said about where this leaves al Qaeda now. The assessment by the U.S. Intelligence Community is that al Qaeda is still struggling to recover from this, that they have not chosen a leader.

The official told us, you might assume that the automatic leader would be the Egyptian, Ayman Al Zawahiri who was functioning over the years as Osama Bin Laden's number two. But we are told that Zawahiri is not all that popular within the organization, that there are a lot of people who don't like him.

The briefers say that if al Qaeda was to hold an election for a leader these days, Zawahiri might have a fight on his hands. It's not at all clear Ayman Al Zawahiri will be the automatic designated new leader of al Qaeda.

So what about Anwar Awlaki, the American-born Yemeni cleric that is of such concern to the United States? He is part of an al Qaeda affiliate, al Qaeda in Yemen, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula as it's called, not al Qaeda Central back in Pakistan. They are not discounting the possibility that Anwar Awlaki could make a play to become the new leader. This could take a long time to sort out. We may only know after the fact when one of them makes the power grab and tries to instigate a mission.

They are not discounting any of this. They believe this struggle is going on in al Qaeda right now. That's one of the things they're trying to determine as they review this information. Where does this leave al Qaeda? Where are its capabilities right now? We learned, of course, that the U.S. Military late this week actually launched a missile strike against Anwar Al Awlaki in Yemen trying to take him down as well. By all accounts, they missed. But this goes to the current strategy, take advantage of this window while they can and go after all the al Qaeda leadership as fast as they can before they are able to move.

Make no mistake, the hunt is on for Ayman Al Zawahiri, number two, nobody knows where he is right now. They're combing all the intelligence they gathered to try and get a fix on this. They want to get to these other people before they move. We're already a week into this. You can assume that very much the intelligence hunt is on and they are looking for all these people, combing through this intelligence to get any clues they can as fast as they can, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Barbara Starr thanks so much. Don't go far. We're going to check in with Reza Sayah who's in Islamabad.

And so, Reza, give us an idea now we're almost a week out from this Abbottabad raid and consequential killing of Osama Bin Laden. What kind of reaction is there, if any, is there in Pakistan about this intelligence gathering and the kind of information that's being revealed publicly by way of the Pentagon?

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think Pakistan, like much of the world at this hour, is getting their first look at these fascinating images of Osama Bin Laden, these very rare images, a fascinating look into his life inside this compound. Much of the world is going to be very interested in these images of a man who's become synonymous with some of the most evil figures in history, obviously there haven't been any pictures or video images of Osama Bin Laden. These are the first ones much of the world has seen in years.

A couple of things stand out. For me, when I look at this videotape -- and that's his care for what he looks like. Image these days is very important for world leaders when they campaign, when they present themselves to the public. And it looks like Osama Bin Laden had picked up on the importance of image when he presented himself to the public, very striking that the -- the striking contrast between the man who's sitting down, crouching down with a remote control watching television with that gray beard and the Osama Bin Laden we see with that dyed beard when he's delivering that speech in that taped message.

Another thing that stands out to me is his surroundings. When this raid was conducted in Abbottabad earlier this week, this compound was described as a large mansion. So it gave you the impression that perhaps Osama Bin Laden lived in luxury.

But when you look at the room where he's crouched down watching that very small television and you see that he certainly didn't live in luxury. This is a very small room, sparse surroundings, a plain wall, a tiny television, wires hanging down from the ceiling. So that initial impression that many may have gotten when this compound was described as a mansion, this certainly appears to be far from it.

I think this videotape is going to be effective in convincing some of the skeptics in this region in Pakistan, Afghanistan, skeptics that still don't believe that Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces early this week. This may convince them that indeed the leader of al Qaeda has been killed because these are images that the world has yet to see and we're seeing him. This is evidence that something significant happened at that compound. And Osama Bin Laden has indeed been killed.

WHITFIELD: And Reza in large part, that may be indeed why the Obama Administration decided to release these types of images to show this was the kind of cache that was garnered at that compound and only this kind of material would be in the possession of Osama Bin Laden.

SAYAH: I think some people are still going to be skeptical. That's the nature of much of the public here in Pakistan and Afghanistan. This is a public that has a lot of mistrust for the U.S. Government. Obviously the Obama Administration struggled for several days after this raid with the question of whether they should release the picture -- what some describe as the gruesome remains of Osama Bin Laden.

Obviously they ultimately decided not to release those images. Perhaps they thought it would incite violence. Perhaps it would create a rallying cry for al Qaeda and al Qaeda affiliated groups to strike back. But this, I think, is, again, an effective way to show some proof, some new evidence that Osama Bin Laden was killed in that compound, without inciting violence that perhaps a gruesome picture of the remains of Osama Bin Laden would garner.

WHITFIELD: Reza, is the Pakistani Government saying anything or responding in a different way over the course of the past 24 hours, say, for example, about whether Pakistan has been vigilant and active in this war on terrorism and how this -- that Government might be trying to explain itself within the past 24 hours as to why it didn't know or reveal if it knew that Osama Bin Laden was living in Abbottabad.

SAYAH: They've been on an aggressive damage control campaign to explain themselves. They've been adamant about their position that they had no idea that Osama Bin Laden was hiding out in a compound just blocks away from the military academy at a garrison town in Abbottabad.

It was interesting, the first few days after the raid in Abbottabad, they were very silent. But starting around Wednesday or Thursday of this week, they started meeting first with local reporters, started making more statements, not just military officials.

But civilian officials and clearly they are on a campaign to defend themselves. This is obviously a very embarrassing situation for them, having the leader of al Qaeda after years of denying that he was in Pakistan, demanding proof from Washington that he was, now he turns up in a compound just north of the capital.

Obviously an embarrassing moment, not just globally for Pakistan and their leading spy agency, but locally, domestically, the military here has been free from criticism for a long time. And for the first time in a long time, you're hearing them being targets of criticism domestically, which is extremely rare.

Over the past several days, they have been on the defensive trying to convince not just domestically but globally that they had no idea that Osama Bin Laden was here. But, again, a lot of people still don't believe them, especially senior officials in Washington.

WHITFIELD: Reza Sayah, thanks so much from Islamabad.

Once again, if you're just now joining us, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. Just now joining around the world here at CNN coverage.

What we are seeing right now is Department of Defense of the United States of America, videotape that is being shared with reporters during a briefing that took place just over an hour ago. These are images from videotapes that were seized from Osama Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, at the time of that raid at the time of the killing of Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the al Qaeda network.

And these samples of video were very carefully constructed and delivered to reporters in the room with no audio. You're seeing video only. Images of Osama Bin Laden, very grayed there, with a blanket around his shoulders, wool cap, presumably taken inside his compound there of him watching himself in television coverage around the world.

You see the remote control in his hand, by way of satellite, he's able to watch television networks around the world. And he's watching how he is being conveyed around the world in various stories.

Our Barbara Starr is a Pentagon correspondent. She was in that room of about 50 journalists during that intelligence briefing. We also saw images, Barbara, of a much more manicured Osama Bin Laden as he was reading a statement looking at the cameras, presumably even rehearsing while delivering his message.

Wearing more formal garment, wearing a cap there and also it appears that his beard is being dyed black, perhaps to look more youthful, perhaps to look more pulled together. Clearly, Barbara Starr joining us again at the Pentagon, very conscientious of his appearance as he conveyed these messages.

But why was it so important for the Department of Defense to reveal, to share this type of video to the world about what they were able to seize at that compound?

STARR: Well, let me step back a minute, Fred and draw a fine point, but an important point here. Technically, you're right. You're absolutely right. This is being fed out to the world by the Department of Defense on a Saturday afternoon in Washington.

The video really is part of the intelligence community's haul, if you will, when those SEALs killed Osama Bin Laden, they moved at lightning speed to gather up everything they could from the compound. This is part of what the SEALs gathered up to deliver to the CIA and the entire intelligence community.

DVD, videos, thumb drives, all of it. They are showing it to us for a couple of reasons. They want to show the world the Osama Bin Laden that is on all of this -- a little bit of the message he was putting out, but we have no audio. We don't know exactly what he's saying.

Nonetheless, the senior intelligence official that briefed reporters here at the Pentagon who was not a military person, not part of the Department of Defense, part of the U.S. intelligence community, tells us that what they've already analyzed from everything they got there is that al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden still had a definite interest in attacking the United States.

And as we've already talked about here, that Bin Laden exercised very specific control over al Qaeda, that he was down in the weeds, that he was in the planning of plots, operational planning, tactical planning, meaning he was into the details. And I asked, isn't that a change?

Because certainly we had been led to believe, I think, that Bin Laden was hiding at some remote cave off on the Pakistani border, out of touch, wasn't really in control and was a figurehead. Whether that perception was disinformation or not, that's clearly the perception that the U.S. government had led reporters to believe over the years.

Now say they, no, we were never surprised to learn that he was much more in control. They knew, they had a good feeling since last August in fact, that he was at this compound. This is a compound they had been tracking for many years, building the case right from the courier that they saw at this compound who was a man who was very close to Bin Laden.

Building the intelligence case clue by clue over the years as this compound was built over the last five years, as people moved into it, as they saw more and more evidence that in this very populated area of this town in Pakistan, this was the most likely place Osama Bin Laden was hiding.

They even had repeated sightings as we have all reported of a tall man walking around the compound. They could never pin down that it was Bin Laden, but there was a body of evidence growing. So they're now showing us some of the intelligence haul that they got out of there and their conclusions are Bin Laden was in control.

He had direct interaction with al Qaeda operatives. He was involved in the planning, the operations, the details of more plots and that al Qaeda maintained the interest in trying to attack the United States again.

And they're going through all of this intelligence, Fred, to try and see if there are any specific clues, any specifics that they need to get after, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And Barbara, while the Obama administration did not want to reveal, show pictures of Osama Bin Laden deceased, this is the second runner-up, or maybe the first runner-up that this administration says it wanted to reveal this kind of intelligence that was gathered.

That only this kind of intelligence would come from the compound of Osama Bin Laden and this is the closest thing that they're willing to share to prove the death of Osama Bin Laden.

STARR: That's right. That all of this came from the compound. You're hearing a bell in the background. My apologies. It's a Saturday afternoon in the Pentagon. They're testing the fire alarm. So everything is fine. We'll keep talking over the fire alarm testing.

WHITFIELD: We'll use that as a cue, we're going to take a short break. We're going to pick up our coverage here of this intelligence that is being shared by the Department of Defense.

Our Barbara Starr at the Pentagon there. She was in the briefing. We're going to take a short break for now and we'll resume our coverage of this kind of information that's being released, the intelligence-gathering that has been shared with the general public right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. We want to welcome our viewers around the world.

We are showing you right now intelligence gathering from the United States Department of Defense. The Department of Defense is sharing some videotape that was seized at the compound of Osama Bin Laden just after the killing of Osama bin laden, just barely seven days ago.

This information is considered part -- just some of what intelligence officials are calling the greatest intelligence haul from any one single operation. You're seeing various images here of Osama Bin Laden. You're seeing a very composed, well-dressed Osama Bin Laden as he is being videotaped, delivering some messages.

You see he's occasionally looking down at scripts and then in the upper right-hand corner, you're looking at a television monitor. When that video pulls out, you're also going to see a very different Osama Bin Laden, a gray-bearded Osama Bin Laden with a wool cap and a blanket around his shoulders, looking a lot more frail, but watching satellite images.

And intelligence officials say that he's going to be holding a remote control and that he liked to watch television coverage of himself around the world. So he had that satellite television service in that compound there.

This compound that is reportedly about 35 miles outside of Islamabad in Abbottabad, Pakistan. That's where the raid took place. There you can now see Osama Bin Laden there watching that television monitor. The intelligence sources say what's important here in this cache of information that is being shared publicly, selectively being shared publicly, you're only seeing the video, you're not hearing the audio.

They say it's important here to be able to show how he was very conscientious of his own appearance, that he was relatively comfortable in this compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. And also, it also demonstrates how in control he was as the leader of al Qaeda.

We've got on the line with us, security contributor with CNN coming out of Washington, D.C., Fran Townsend.

As you look at these images of Osama Bin Laden and as you look at a fraction of the intelligence gathering as a result of that raid, what comes to mind for you? What do you think is important here?

FRANCES TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR (via telephone): Let's just talk about the four we have up on the screen because I think the government picked those four very carefully. You know, it's interesting to me, the one we're looking at now, when you think of him being in an urban area, look, there's wires from the wall, it's dirty, he's frail.

God knows how old that television set is. There's a blanket covering the window. This looks like a ghetto. He looks like he really is a man on the run, bearded gray. So they make the point that this is a very vain leader of this organization who has an image of being a sort of inspirational and benevolent sort of leader.

It's clear that's not what he is, that's not what we're seeing. In this video now that we're showing, the reason the government picked this is because of the armoire behind it. We're told by government officials that that was in the compound where he had been killed.

So it's proof, if you will, that they did get in there and that is where they killed him. The other video, it's interesting, the one where he looks off to the side, that's a video they're showing you because, look, they're going to show you him not in his best light.

He misses his cues, the lights are off, they're showing you both in that one and the sort of undressed-up Bin Laden, a man in a light that is not very flattering to him. And then the last one, the one -- the video that had not been released, the government clearly picked this one because they want to show that they have it, that they're in control and that it will be released at a time of their choosing.

Even though they stripped the video out of it in case a copy of this video is also in the hands of Ayman Al Zawahiri or others that may release it, the U.S. government is sending a very clear message to them, we got the jump on you, we have this video.

Even if Zawahiri and remnants of al Qaeda choose to release it later, the government is sending a very clear message that the U.S. government now is in control of this material, not Zawahiri and al Qaeda.

WHITFIELD: It's important to note here that the video images only are being revealed by the Department of Defense, no audio. So as that audio would not be used as further propaganda as any sort of messages that would be sent even posthumously.

TOWNSEND: That's right. I mean, this is in many respects a real stroke of genius on the part of the U.S. government in order to put to rest the fact that whether or not he was captured or he was not killed.

This is an effort to try and put that to rest without having to suffer the potential consequences of the release of the more gruesome death photos. And I think they've done a good job with the selection from probably what is a more vast body of materials.

Making sure they're getting their point out, that is that Osama Bin Laden was not -- he was a vain man and not what he pretended to be to his followers and that they're in control.

That they killed him, they're in control of basically his estate, what he left behind and they will or will not release things at their own choosing. I think it's a very smart way they've done it.

WHITFIELD: In your view, this was kind of the next best thing that the Obama administration would not release the pictures of a deceased Osama Bin Laden, but this is the next best thing to proving to anyone that doubted his death that this is evidence that they did indeed seize this from the compound of the man who was killed?

TOWNSEND: That's right, Fred. I mean, if I was going to release the death photos, I would have done it immediately after the raid and been done with it. But having had time passed now, they're right now to release them and this is the next best thing.

I mean, there will always be people who question it, right? There are the conspiracy theorists to this day who accuse Israel and the United States of having been behind 9/11. As crazy as that sounds to me and to most Americans, those people will always be out there.

And those are the same people who may not be satisfied. But between the videos and the DNA evidence, I think the U.S. government has gone about as far as it can go to prove that it's smart, willing to listen, willing to learn people about the success of their image.

WHITFIELD: What strikes you as we look at this image of - right now, this Osama Bin Laden looking very frail, that that clearly is the true Osama Bin Laden despite the images where he is poised and in front of the cameras looking a lot more vibrant and young?

What does this tell you or how do you kind of extrapolate that image and what do you think about what kind of state of mind or health he may have been in?

TOWNSEND: I'll confess to you, Fredricka. He looks miserable, right? As opposed to the additional report that he's living in walled mansion where he could walk about in his court yard, this is a very different picture.

It does not look like he's enjoying life. He looks like he's a prisoner. He looks like a miserable captive. I have to think of him as having been on the run for five, six years trying to avoid authorities, in this condition - you know, it troubles me less looking at him being miserable in this hovel than thinking he's in this luxurious compound.

WHITFIELD: Fran Townsend, thanks so much, a security contributor with CNN. Appreciate that. So one more time, if you're just now joining us, what you're looking at are images that the Department of Defense has just released.

And this is part of a large intelligence haul that was a large intelligence haul that was taken from the Osama Bin Laden compound at the time of the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

And these images, according to intelligence officials during briefing held at the Pentagon barely two hours ago say that this shows a very different Osama Bin Laden. In one respect he's very poised, polished, very put together.

In the other respect, in the upper right-hand corner there, you see him as a lot more frail looking, graying, wearing a blanket around his shoulders and watching himself on satellite television to see how his images being broadcast around the world.

But bottom line, intelligence officials say he was very contentious about his image, very contentious how he was being portrayed around the world. But most importantly, revealing this information, this videotape is the intelligence official's idea of proving that, indeed, they did target Osama Bin Laden.

They killed him, and they took this information from his compound along with, our Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. She was in the briefing said along with the video, DVDs, thumb drives were also taken and handwritten notes from his compound at the time of targeting Osama Bin Laden and killing the leader of al Qaeda.

We're going to continue our coverage here as a result of this Pentagon briefing that took place a short while ago and information taken from the compound of Osama Bin Laden.

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WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield here in Atlanta being joined my colleague, Jon Mann here as we welcome our viewers around the world as well.

We're keeping a close watch on all these intelligence that is now being shared with us from the Department of Defense as a result of that on Osama Bin Laden's compound.

JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And primarily remarkable videos, five videos that we have seen, which have no audio, but speak volumes with the pictures they show us.

CNN's Stan Grant is in Kabul, Afghanistan and he's been watching some of these. Stan, Osama Bin Laden is man who tried to inspire his followers around the world, who tried to lead a war with his videos. Now he's dead. The videos in some sense survive. What impact do you think they're going to have inside Afghanistan?

STAN GRANT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It sheds more light on the fan. This is a very enigmatic figure. A figure that had been spoken to people on the streets here in Kabul was almost appeared invincible in the past 10 years, the fact that he was able to evade a catcher, the fact that he was able to build this network of terror throughout the world and have such an impact.

When you watch these videos, you really get a sense to which about which he was really very concerned about his image, very concerned about how he appeared and concerned about the messages that he was sending throughout the world.

You know, it's quite striking when you look at that image of him sitting there. Watching the television in that room, very intently watching what he was doing and watching the way he was projected. But this is very much in keeping with the man over the years.

You recall at various times he would give certain messages. He would wear clerical clothes for a certain message, a more spiritual message. At other times he would put on military clothes and have a gun propped behind him when he wanted to project a more militant image, a more militant message.

This is someone who obviously very carefully staged and managed very carefully, choreographed how he was seen by his followers to project that image of invincibility, project that image of strength.

To that extent, Jonathan, now that he is dead, of course, people are going to wonder exactly what that means for al Qaeda and whether he was that invincible figure who was able to -- with the use of his power and the use of his imagery be able to attract so many followers throughout the world.

So what we're seeing with these images is just adding more pieces to the puzzle, being able to shed a bit more light of this man and what he had been doing and how he saw himself and how he struggle, Jonathan.

WHITFIELD: Stan, this is Fredericka. Did the people in Afghanistan, ordinary citizens, perhaps even elected officials felt like they, too, needed proof that Osama Bin Laden had been taken out?

GRANT: Fredricka, that's precisely what the Taliban had said earlier in the week. They were refusing to accept or deny the fact that he was dead. They said they wanted to see more proof.

Now, after we got recognition or acceptance from al Qaeda that Bin Laden was dead with that first statement, the Taliban then followed also with a statement saying that he had, in fact, died.

Talking to people here on the streets in the initial days, there was a mixed reaction, certainly a sense of disbelief. Some said look, we've heard these stories before. We've heard that he'd been killed in Afghanistan in Tora Bora, way back at the beginning of the invasion.

We heard that he had died only last year in Pakistan. So many people heard this latest news and reacted with a bit of a shrug saying, perhaps we've heard this before. As the news started to sink in, people start to firm it up their opinions then, some were saying that he was a Muslim. He was devoted to Islam and that they were not happy that he was dead.

I was in a mosque just yesterday for Friday prayers and one man I spoke to said, look, he was - he was a freedom fighter. He is now in paradise. But another man I spoke to, a young man who had his leg blown off from a land mine had a very, very different sight of Osama Bin Laden.

He looked at me and said I curse his father. This is a man who has ruined my life. He has made me a beggar. He said I hope he is in hell and I hope he is burning in hell, very, very strong words coming from this man.

His life had been directly affected by the conflict started by the likes of the Taliban and by the likes of Osama Bin Laden particularly after the attacks in 2001, the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan, which has really had an extraordinary impact and negative impact on so many lives. The lives lost and the poverty that people go through every day and of course, those wounded who were bearing scars of this war -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Stan Grant. Thank so much in Kabul. Appreciate that.