Although he was a fugitive and in hiding, Osama bin Laden had a strong influence in al-Qaeda’s recent terror plots as revealed in his private journals and documents recovered in last week’s raid, according to US officials.

Based from the accounts written on bin Laden’s journal which the Seal Team Six seized from bin Laden’s Pakistani home, he advised leaders of al-Qaeda networks from Yemen to London to launch attacks on the US and strike on significant dates like the Fourth of July and the upcoming 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. This dispelled the belief that Osama bin Laden was merely an inspirational figure of the Al-Qaeda.

Based on records, Osama bin Laden was in constant communication with Al-Qaeda’s offshoots from his walled compound in Pakistan. The terror network’s Yemen branch has emerged as the major threat to the United States. While Osama’s involvement in the attempted Christmas Day 2009 bombing of a Detroit-bound airplane or the nearly successful attack on cargo planes bound for Chicago and Philadelphia, it showed some of bin Laden’s trademarks.

His handwritten accounts showed him instructing his followers to not only concentrate on New York but also target Los Angeles or smaller cities. In one of his writings, bin Laden even computed the number of Americans that must be killed to force the US to leave the Arab world. His conclusions revealed that the smaller, scattered attacks during 9/11 is not sufficient. He instructed his followers that only killing thousands of Americans in the range of 9/11 would change American policy.

Upon initial analysis of the more than 100 flash drives and five computers that the Navy Seals have hauled away, intelligence officials say there are no new planned targets or plots. Last week, the FBI and Homeland Security Department issued warnings for possible attacks on trains, although US officials said there was no specific plan.

As of now, intelligence officials have not seen signs that Osama was capable of coordinating timings of attacks throughout the different al-Qaida affiliates in Pakistan, Yemen, Algeria, Iraq, and Somalia. The terror network has still not named Osama bin Laden’s successor but his No. 2 man Ayman al-Zawahri is the leading candidate to replace him. However, he lacks the charisma of bin Laden to rally troops together. Officials said that the death of bin Laden would further decentralize Al-Qaeda.

Although the United Kingdom and the United States had been sharing information regarding the bin Laden cache, there was still no clear indication that he had direct involvement on the recent terror attacks or plots in Britain. The 2005 suicide bombings and the trans-Atlantic liquid explosive plot to blow up several airline companies in 2006, two of the biggest terror plots directed towards Great Britain, had traces of Pakistani and Al-Qaeda traces but had no direct connection to Osama bin Laden.

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