Osama Bin Laden Diary: Al Qaeda Leader Wanted to Hit Small Cities

Osama bin Laden had plans to target smaller U.S. cities and wanted to pin American politicians against one another, reports the Associated Press, and according to bin Laden's private handwritten journal and other documents that were found on the May 1st raid on his Pakistan compound.

Bin Laden was hoping to kill as many Americans as possible and was looking at trains and planes. He mused that it would take a great number of American deaths for U.S. forces to get out of the Middle East.

He believed just targeting New York was not enough, and considered Los Angeles and small cities. There was also consideration of attacks on the tenth anniversary of September 11, according to the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.

The Al Qaeda leader also looked to create dissent in the U.S. by playing politicians against one another, perhaps with the intention of confusing the American public's direction against Al Qaeda.

According to two U.S. officials, bin Laden's journal and computer files confirm that he was behind every major Al Qaeda threat, which included terror plots in Europe in 2010 that had travelers and embassies on high alert.

Over the past nine days, analysts have come up empty in finding immiment Al Qaeda terror plots, though the search is continuing.