Al Qaeda Expert: Videos Make Osama Look 'Pathetic'

ABC News reports:

The U.S. government is running a full-court press to prevent Osama bin Laden from becoming a hallowed martyr by using what are essentially out-takes of videos made by bin Laden to paint him instead as a vain, pathetic old man, experts said today.

Of the five videos made public by the White House this weekend, perhaps the most remarkable shows bin Laden huddled under a blanket, watching himself on television with a remote control in his hand, changing the channels whenever he sees pictures of president Obama.

"He's always been very careful about controlling his image and here was nurturing his image, watching himself on television in what was the most revealing, most human, least controlled moment of his entire career," Lawrence Wright, Osama bin Laden expert and author of "The Looming Tower," said.

The out-takes reveal bin Laden's fully gray beard, apparently dyed jet black for his on-camera appearances set behind four different makeshift backgrounds.

"[This is] just a guy who wants to be seen, who wants to be known," Wright said. "Very pathetic in a way."