US uses bin Laden letters to degrade al-Qaida

WASHINGTON — Let­ters from Osama bin Laden’s last hide­away, released by U.S. offi­cials intent on dis­cred­it­ing his ter­ror orga­ni­za­tion, por­tray a net­work weak, inept and under siege — and its leader seem­ingly near wit’s end about the pass­ing of his global jihad’s glory days.