REVELATIONS

Bin Laden Wanted to Change al Qaeda's Name

To improve group's reputation among Muslims.

Months after the raid on Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials are still sifting through documents from his Abbottabad compound and learning more about the late terrorist leader. One such revelation: A letter written months before he died implies that bin Laden wanted to alter the name of his terror group from al Qaeda, which means "the base," to a different name that would reinforce the network's purpose of carrying out a holy war against enemies of Islam. The letter reveals bin Laden's concern that his group was becoming unpopular in the Islamic world because they were responsible for killing so many Muslims. He was clearly seeking desperate measures to keep the network alive and strong until his final days.