WASHINGTON (AP) - Osama bin Laden had considered changing al-Qaida's name, as a public relations move.
In a letter recovered from bin Laden's Pakistan compound during the U.S. raid that killed him, the al-Qaida leader wrote that his terror group had killed too many Muslims, which he had said in the past hurt al-Qaida's image.
Bin Laden wrote that the name al-Qaida lacked a religious element, and he wanted a name that convinced Muslims worldwide that they're in a holy war with America. He said al-Qaida had been shortened from al-Qaida al-Jihad, and that taking off the word "jihad" or holy war, allowed the West to "claim deceptively that they are not at war with Islam."
Bin Laden considered names that mean, Monotheism and Jihad Group or Restoration of the Caliphate Group.
