Was Osama Bin Laden Radicalised In The West? His Personal Journal Says He Was

Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011 when Navy SEALS raided his secret lair in Pakistan. STR/REUTERS

The Guardian: Bin Laden's disdain for the west grew in Shakespeare's birthplace, journal shows

CIA released journal as part of 470,000 documents collected from Bin Laden’s house, showing he visited the UK as a teenager and found it to be ‘decadent’.

A summer trip to the UK as a teenager and visits to Shakespeare’s birthplace convinced Osama bin Laden that the west was “decadent”, the late leader of al-Qaida and architect of the 9/11 attacks wrote in his personal journal shortly before he was killed by US special forces in 2011.

The journal is among 470,000 documents collected from the house where Bin Laden died that were released by the CIA on Wednesday. The agency said it had released the treasure trove “in the interest of transparency and to enhance public understanding of al-Qaida and [bin Laden].”

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WNU Editor: The United Kingdom of the 1970s bears no resemblance to the United Kingdom of today. But Bin Laden's "disdain" for Shakespeare provides an insight (again) into the cultural divide that exists between the West and the Middle East where compromise is utterly impossible.