The Obama administration deliberately sought to downplay how robust the al-Qaida network was in the lead up to the 2012 election by selectively releasing documents that enforced a preferred narrative, The Weekly Standard reports, citing experts at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and New York Times Correspondent Rukmini Callimachi.

The revelation of the al-Qaida network’s strength in 2011 comes after the final release of thousands of documents obtained by U.S. Navy SEALs in a 2011 raid to kill Usama Bin-Laden in Abbotabad, Pakistan. The documents reveal that Bin-Laden was minutely managing the day-to-day operations of his terror network all while former President Barack Obama assured the American public the group was “decimated.”

“Think back to when bin Laden was killed. It was 2011, it was right before a major campaign season. I don’t want to underplay the role that the killing of Osama bin Laden had,” Callimachi told the Friday audience, adding “But I think that that was theorized into something much bigger.”

FDD expert Thomas Jocelyn expanded on this thought, saying “That narrative that came out in 2012, we knew immediately was wrong, totally wrong, and was basically a cherry picked version of what’s going on.”

The newly released documents from the raid shed light on just how active Bin Laden’s participation in day-to-day operation was. “He was not a mere figurehead. During the final months of his life, Osama bin Laden was communicating with subordinates around the globe. Recovered memos discuss the various committees and lieutenants who helped bin Laden manage his sprawling empire of terror,” The Long War Journal wrote of his role at the time.

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