Nightly News   |  May 11, 2011

Journals show bin Laden 'fully engaged' to repeat 9/11

Personal materials found in bin Laden's hideout provide a glimpse into the activities and goals of al-Qaida and its former leader, US officials tell NBC's Jim Miklaszewski.

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>>> we have news from overseas resulting from the death of osama bin laden . of all the material those navy s.e.a.l.s grabbed on their way out of the house in pakistan, one item is paying off in terms of intelligence. it's a private journal, we're told, and it's now increasingly public. nbc's jim miklaszewski is on duty at the pentagon. good evening.

>> reporter: good evening, brian. u.s. senior military intelligence said the u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s found so much intelligence at the compound that they didn't have time to gather it all up and take it, but what they did grab was the hand written journal. he talks about attacking the united states and creating mass casualties and trying to find ways to secretly insert al qaeda operatives into the yunls. according to one u.s. official, b bin laden woke up every morning and tried to come up with new ways to attack the united states . he at one point sounds frustrated when he said the only way to get the attention of the u.s. government is by killing large numbers of americans. at the same time, the u.s. uncovered district correspondence between bin laden and some of the al qaeda operatives about a plot. most of this material was found in what appeared to be bin laden 's office, the computers, hard drive, and journals, but what the navy s.e.a.l.s left behind may have bib of very high value. detailed logs of bin laden 's and al qaeda 's movements and activities. the kind of information that could lead to the identities of operatives and possible plots. the problem is all that material has been gathered up by pakistani intelligence . the u.s. has asked, but so far, the pakistanis have not agreed to share it, brian.

>> we continue to learn more from the raid in pakistan. jim at the pentagon tonight.