US intelligence agencies have declassified the list of English-language texts that Osama bin Laden was reading in 2011 at the time of the US raid in Pakistan.

Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden couldn't resist a good conspiracy theory Reuters

The list is part of a tranche of more than 100 documents recovered in Abbottabad on 2 May 2011 when the US Navy SEALs stormed the compound and killed the world's most wanted terrorist.

The release shows that the 9/11 mastermind was an avid reader of conspiracy theory books, with titles including: Bloodlines of the Illuminati by right-wing author Fritz Springmeier; The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions About the Bush Administration and 9/11 by the 9/11 truther David Ray Griffin; Conspirators' Hierarchy: The Committee of 300 by John Coleman; and The Secrets of the Federal Reserve by Eustace Mullins, an anti-Semitic writer.

Bin Laden had the English-language materials stocked in Adobe Acrobat PDF files. The list on Bin Laden's bookshelf includes books by American radical linguist Noam Chomsky and Watergate investigative journalist Bob Woodward.

More about Osama Bin Laden

The list also includes media articles from magazines Foreign Policy and Newsweek (IBTimes UK's sister publication) as well as analyses from think-tanks like Chatham House and the Carnegie Papers. The vast majority of PDFs were scanned issues of Arabic-language editions of al-Hayat and al-Quds al-Arabi newspapers, according to a senior intelligence official quoted by Buzzfeed.

Other documents released include maps on Iran nuclear sites, IT software manuals, and a lot of material on France. The list also includes a video game guide to Delta Force Extreme 2 and a bizarre "suicide prevention guide" entitled "Is it the heart you are asking?"

The Office of the Director of the National Intelligence said that "all All documents whose publication will not hurt ongoing operations against al-Qa'ida or their affiliates will be released."

Here's the full list of English-language books:

  • The 2030 Spike by Colin Mason
  • A Brief Guide to Understanding Islam by I. A. Ibrahim
  • America's Strategic Blunders by Willard Matthias
  • America's "War on Terrorism" by Michel Chossudovsky
  • Al-Qaeda's Online Media Strategies: From Abu Reuter to Irhabi 007 by Hanna Rogan
  • The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast
  • The Best Enemy Money Can Buy by Anthony Sutton
  • Black Box Voting, Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century by Bev Harris
  • Bloodlines of the Illuminati by Fritz Springmeier
  • Bounding the Global War on Terror by Jeffrey Record
  • Checking Iran's Nuclear Ambitions by Henry Sokolski and Patrick Clawson
  • Christianity and Islam in Spain 756-1031 A.D. by C. R. Haines
  • Civil Democratic Islam: Partners, Resources, and Strategies by Cheryl Benard
  • Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
  • Conspirators' Hierarchy: The Committee of 300 by John Coleman
  • Crossing the Rubicon by Michael Ruppert
  • Fortifying Pakistan: The Role of U.S. Internal Security Assistance (only the book's introduction) by C. Christine Fair and Peter Chalk
  • Guerilla Air Defense: Antiaircraft Weapons and Techniques for Guerilla Forces by James Crabtree
  • Handbook of International Law by Anthony Aust
  • Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance by Noam Chomsky
  • Imperial Hubris by Michael Scheuer
  • In Pursuit of Allah's Pleasure by Asim Abdul Maajid, Esaam-ud-Deen and Dr. Naahah Ibrahim
  • International Relations Theory and the Asia-Pacific by John Ikenberry and Michael Mastandano
  • Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II by William Blum
  • Military Intelligence Blunders by John Hughes-Wilson
  • Project MKULTRA, the CIA's program of research in behavioral modification. Joint hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, first session, August 3, 1977. United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Intelligence.
  • Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies by Noam Chomsky
  • New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11 by David Ray Griffin
  • New Political Religions, or Analysis of Modern Terrorism by Barry Cooper
  • Obama's Wars by Bob Woodward
  • Oxford History of Modern War by Charles Townsend
  • The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy
  • Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower by William Blum
  • The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly Hall (1928)
  • Secrets of the Federal Reserve by Eustace Mullins
  • The Taking of America 1-2-3 by Richard Sprague
  • Unfinished Business, U.S. Overseas Military Presence in the 21st Century by Michael O'Hanlon
  • The U.S. and Vietnam 1787-1941 by Robert Hopkins Miller
  • "Website Claims Steve Jackson Games Foretold 9/11," article posted on ICV2.com (this file contained only a single saved web page)
More about Osama bin Laden