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The search of Osama bin Laden's Pakistani compound has turned up more than porn and evidence that the al-Qaeda leader used a thumb drive-toting courier to send e-mails. Today, NPR tells us that the seized documents also confirm that bin Laden, who received an undergraduate degree in economics and public administration, ran his sprawling al-Qaeda network like a multinational corporation. Fighters, for example, had to submit receipts for everything from car rentals to floppy disks (it's unclear if bin Laden required manager's approval) and enjoyed "excellent HR benefits," according to records uncovered in 2001. Married al-Qaeda members earned a salary of $108 a month (more if they had multiple wives) and could take seven days of vacation for every three weeks of work, while bachelors received a smaller salary and got five vacation days per month.

Before we nominate al-Qaeda as one of the best places to work, however, it's worth asking: Were al-Qaeda's benefits really that great? NPR itself concedes that it's unclear whether the cash-strapped, internationally squeezed organization is as generous an employer as it once was. The historical record suggests there are other reasons to be skeptical as well: