Bin Laden Tried to Recruit Operatives with Valid Mexican Passports, Report Says

Oct. 7: This image, made from a video broadcast, shows Usama bin Laden at an undisclosed location. The Al Qaeda leader threatened to kill French citizens in a new audio tape posted Oct. 27 to avenge their country's support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. (AP)

Osama bin Laden was trying to recruit a Mexican national with a valid passport to sneak into the US and cause mayhem, the Los Angeles Times is reporting.

The paper, citing an anonymous former U.S. official, said the head of Al Qaeda was troubled by radical Islamic fundamentalists who had taken an oath of U.S. citizenship then tried to launch attacks on American soil. He believed doing so violated Islamic law.

“Bin Laden wanted someone who had not pledged allegiance [to the U.S.]. He felt they were on stronger religious grounds,” the former official said, according to the newspaper.

Bin Laden wanted someone who had not pledged allegiance [to the U.S.]. He felt they were on stronger religious grounds
— Former US official told the Los Angeles Times

Bin Ladin allegedly wanted to recruit someone with a valid Mexican passport so they wouldn’t be forced to follow a path to citizenship and would be in the country undetected. He was particularly perturbed over Faisal Shahzad swearing allegiance to the US then trying to set off bombs in Times Square.

Shazad, a Pakistani American, eventually confessed to the bomb plot, which failed because the bombs failed to detonate.

The source allegedly examined letters seized from bin Laden’s compound during last year’s raid.

The news comes a day after President Barack Obama visited neighboring Afghanistan on the anniversary of bin Laden's killing.

Obama, in the midst of his effort to win re-election as president and commander in chief, capped the rapid visit with a TV speech beamed back to the U.S. in which he declared that the war is ending and Americans can look forward to the "light of a new day on the horizon."