No, Osama bin Laden probably didn’t play video games

He had other stuff to worry about

There’s a sad glut of headlines going around today all distantly framed as “Osama bin Laden: He’s just like you!” The CIA has just released a list of 470,000 files that were found in the May 2011 raid on his Abbottabad compound. Among them are some pop culture names that you, yourself, probably enjoy.

Here are some movies, video games, and programs that the CIA recovered on hard drives inside the bin Laden compound:

• Antz
• Cars
• Resident Evil
• Chicken Little
• Final Fantasy VII
• Batman Gotham Knight
• Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
• A Game Boy Advance emulator
• Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
• Devil May Cry anime

So did Osama tear up during that you-know-what Aerith scene? Fuck to the no he didn’t, because there’s no chance in hell Osama bin Laden played video games. It’s unknown who lived in the compound, but bin Laden reportedly has at least 20 kids. That’s who was playing video games and watching anime. Either that or some young-ish Al-Qaeda confidant in his crew. Not bin Laden.

This isn’t even the first time video games have been tied to bin Laden. Two years ago, similar information was declassified where we learned that someone in the compound played Delta Force: Xtreme 2. This is just more of that but with better taste.

Osama bin Laden: Bad man but (probably) not a gamer man.

CIA Releases Nearly 470,000 Additional Files Recovered in May 2011 Raid on Usama Bin Ladin’s Compound [Central Intelligence Agency]