Bin Laden Journal: U.S. Will Leave Arab World after New 9/11-Size Attack

Osama bin Laden's handwritten journal - obtained during a raid by U.S. forces last week - shows he urged followers conduct attacks in the U.S. on the scale of 9/11 - involving body counts in the thousands - in order to drive Americans from the Arab world, according to a report.

In the latest report, no specific plots were revealed.

The Associated Press spoke with U.S. officials on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about findings from Bin Laden's Abbottabad compound in Northern Pakistan, just north of the capital of Islamabad.

According to the report, bin Laden considered how many Americans he would have to kill to force the U.S. to leave the Arab world. He concluded that smaller, scattered attacks since the 9/11 attacks had not been enough. He told his followers only an attack with thousands of deaths would shift U.S. policy.

He told followers not to limit attacks to New York, according to report. He said other targets such as Los Angeles or smaller cities should be considered.

On the timing of attacks, he said that if possible, they should strike on significant dates such as the Fourth of July and the coming 10^th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Last week, the FBI and Homeland Security Department, citing information obtained from a trove of computers and portable storage devices known as flash drives, issued a warning to law enforcement to be on alert for possible attacks to trains. No specific plot was announced.