During the six years that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden lived secretly in a walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, he maintained a quiet life of relative domestic bliss, while at the same time attempting to micromanage a once-powerful militant empire.
That's according to Peter Bergen, author of "Manhunt: The Decade-Long Hunt for Osama bin Laden," the new book released Tuesday on the one-year anniversary of bin Laden's death at the hands of a U.S. Navy SEAL team in Pakistan.
Bergen, a journalist and security analyst met bin Laden in a mud hut in 1997 in Afghanistan and then spent 15 years reporting on his life. He was also the only journalist and independent observer to have been allowed access to the bin Laden compound before it was demolished in early 2012
In "Manhunt," Bergen documents bin Laden's life and the 10 years the U.S. spent trying to track him down after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which he orchestrated.
The fascinating book reveals previously unknown details about the 54-year-old militant leader's ultra-secret life in the compound, from his obsession with looking young and his near-daily use of Just For Men hair dye to hide the grey in his beard, to the way he communicated with his lieutenants and the instructions that he gave.
But perhaps most surprising, Bergen told CTV's Canada AM in an interview from Washington D.C., was the relatively peaceful existence the world's most wanted man managed to maintain in the half-dozen years leading up to his death.
"He had his 62-year-old wife living with him, his 54-year-old wife living with him and his 29-year-old wife living with him," Bergen said.
"They all had separate kitchens, separate bedrooms, he was basically sleeping with his 29-year-old wife and not his two older wives. He had a dozen of his kids and four of his grandkids living with him. He was living a life of sort of domestic tranquility, and I think that was a little surprising."
Bin Laden was also much more active than many people would likely expect, Bergen said. Despite the fact his empire had lost much of its power in recent years and the social climate in the Arab world had changed drastically, bin Laden still tried to exert a micro-manager's level of control over al Qaeda.
His memos to key lieutenants, which ranged up to 48 pages in length, covered topics from the U.S. drone campaign in Pakistan (which was coincidentally being used to monitor the compound where bin Laden was staying) to kidnapping negotiation tactics and even his desire that North African affiliates plant trees to provide shade and cover for future militant operations.
"The kind of picture we have developing of bin Laden's life for the almost six years he lived in Abbottabad is one of domestic tranquility punctuated by letter-writing to members of al Qaeda and trying to be a micro-manager almost, of their activities," Bergen said.
He was also incredibly secretive and disciplined in his lifestyle, which explains why it took years for the U.S. to track him down, despite the fact he was living in a compound just a few kilometres from a busy Pakistani military academy.
Bergen said there were women living on the compound, wives of some of the men who were protecting him, who were told to never ask about the mysterious Arab living in their midst.
"He was not allowing anyone who didn't have an absolute need to know, to know where he was and he wasn't talking on a cell phone or using the Internet. He wasn't communicating except by courier, which of course was the way he was finally found."
He added: "It took a long time because he was being quite disciplined about his operational security."
Over the course of three trips to Pakistan, Bergen had the opportunity to interview Pakistani officials who had investigated the Abbottabad compound, and who had interrogated bin Laden's wives.
In the course of that research, Bergen discovered bin Laden's final words were: "Don't turn on the light" -- which the militant leader uttered to his wife as armed U.S. fighters broke into the room.
"And in fact, someone had turned off the electricity in the area, ensuring the SEALs had a big advantage on a moonless night. So bin Laden's last admonition to his wife was useless because there was no light to turn on," Bergen said.
Follow Andy Johnson on Twitter @ajinto
