Speed Reads

al qaeda

The application form to join al Qaeda is eerily mundane

The Director of National Intelligence on Wednesday released a tranche of English-language documents seized from Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that have shed new light on the former leader of al Qaeda, including that he was something of a 9/11 conspiracy theorist.

Another document that surfaced gives new meaning to the banality of evil: the al Qaeda job application form. As Gawker's Sam Biddle notes, the form includes questions like:

  • Have you ever been in jail or prison?
  • Are any of your relatives or friends in the jihad theater?
  • Any hobbies or pastimes?
  • Do you wish to execute a suicide mission?

Read the whole thing here.