U.S. authorities have released "home movies" of Osama bin Laden showing the former al Qaeda leader flipping back and forth between clips of himself on TV and practicing propaganda videos seized during the raid on his Pakistan compound.
Intelligence officials showed reporters a total of five movies Saturday, depicting bin Laden's everyday life in the fortified compound where he is believed to have lived for the last five years.
The clips feature outtakes of bin Laden's al Qaeda propaganda films as well as footage of the once-feared terrorist leader flipping between various channels' news coverage of himself on a small television.
In another, bin Laden is seen having apparently dyed and trimmed his beard in preparation for the filming of one of his video missives.
Administration officials say all the videos come from materials seized by U.S. Navy SEALs during their mission to kill bin Laden.
In an interview from Philadelphia, Foreign Policy Research Institute senior fellow Ed Turzanski told CTV News that the U.S.-government selected clips paint a portrait of a man vainly obsessed with his own image.
Bin Laden was motivated, Turzanski said, by "the idea that he was the symbolic leader and had to portray himself in the best possible light."
The familiar sight of bin Laden with a Qur'an in one hand and a machine gun in the other, Turzanski said, was the "heroic image" that served to rally his al Qaeda terrorist network.
In that light, Turzanski said there is a strong case to be made for the U.S. releasing any images of bin Laden after he had been shot and killed by U.S. special forces, "as a way of demystifying this image that he had carefully created over time, and also drawing home the point that if you attack our civilians and kill them as he did on Sept. 11, it might take us nearly a decade, but you'll pay the price."
U.S. officials have said they will not reconsider their decision to withhold those images, however.
Instead, officials are keen to turn attention to the "treasure trove" of computers, data and other effects collected during the U.S. raid that left with bin Laden and four others killed in the Abbottabad compound.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one of the officials told The Associated Press that they've already learned bin Laden was more involved than previously thought in directing al Qaeda personnel and operations in the last decade, including "giving strategic direction" to branches of the terror network in Yemen and Somalia.
The information gathered also suggests al Qaeda's commanders have found sanctuary throughout Pakistan, and not just in the rugged border areas.
They would not confirm, however, if the information points to the whereabouts of the man considered bin Laden's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri.
Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, who first gained notoriety for interviewing bin Laden, said the videos were likely made for "internal" al Qaeda usage, and would be circulated later to prove that the network's leader was still alive.
Mir told CTV News Channel Saturday that there is evidence the compound was being used as an "active command and control" centre for the terror network, with upcoming plans to hit U.S. targets.
But while Americans celebrate the death of bin Laden, Washington needs to ensure that relations with Pakistan aren't too strained in the wake of the raid, Mir noted.
The strain between the two nations has also been intensified by recent comments from CIA chief Leon Panetta, who said that Pakistan was kept in the dark about the bin Laden raid.
Thousands of Pakistani civilians and soldiers have died in the U.S.-backed campaign against al Qaeda, yet senior Washington officials publicly say they don't trust the nation, said Mir, noting that the disconnect doesn't sit well among Pakistanis.
Mir added that if the U.S. could enter Pakistan and carry out a military raid, there is concern among Pakistanis that India could launch a similar attack.
With files from The Associated Press
