William Flew

One of the officials said Bin Laden was more involved than previously thought in directing Al-Qaeda, including “giving strategic direction” to branches in Yemen and Somalia. “Bin Laden was in operational, strategic and tactical control of Al-Qaeda,” said the official. “He was directing and plotting on a day-to-day basis.” His home was an “active command and control centre”. Among the material were documents showing that Bin Laden planned to recruit black American Muslim converts to carry out attacks in the US. The objective was not only to kill, but to divide communities too. “Because there were many blacks in the US, he wanted to capitalise on them to further the jihadi cause,” an American official told ABC News. “Al-Qaeda sees the black convert community as ripe for recruiting.” It was unclear whether the new intelligence prompted the drone strikes on Awlaki in the southern Yemeni province of Shebwa. Yemeni officials said they had told the Americans where to find him. Awlaki, an operational commander of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who lived in Britain from 2002-2004, has emerged as one of the most potent threats to the West. He encouraged an army major who killed 13 fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, and last year his followers planted bombs that were discovered in toner cartridges on Chicago-bound planes at East Midlands and Dubai airports. Saxby Chambliss, the vice-chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, suggested this weekend that the Navy Seals who stormed Bin Laden’s compound had been under orders to kill rather than capture him. “We needed to take this guy out. And I know that’s what the executive order said,” he said. The Sunday Times has learnt that if Bin Laden had tried to escape before the Seals arrived, a 2,000lb bomb would have been dropped on the compound, obliterating it. Instead, he died in his bedroom after being shot twice. As well as an AK-47 and a pistol, he kept a cache of medicines including what was described as a “natural Viagra”.CABINET ministers have been warned