( CNN ) -- Documents recovered from Osama bin Laden 's compound in Pakistan show that al Qaeda spoke of attacking President Barack Obama and Gen. David Petraeus , a source familiar with the materials recovered from the compound said Friday . The documents refer to an attack that would destroy the aircraft carrying Obama and Petraeus in the region , the source said , referring to the Afghanistan , Pakistan area . The documents also referred in a more general way to a desire by al Qaeda to attack the president and Petraeus , who was will be departing soon as the U.S. military commander in Afghanistan . A U.S. official , who was not authorized to speak on the record , described the Bin Laden documents as `` him in his brainstorming mode ... hey , I have an idea , what if we did this . '' U.S. forces killed bin Laden during a raid on May 2 . They recovered documents and other material during the raid . Petraeus declined to comment , a spokesman said Friday . Another U.S. official said the documents showed bin Laden was interested in attacking the United States on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks . According to that official , bin Laden wrote about `` identifying a team of operatives to attack the homeland . '' But the official said there was nothing specific and `` it 's unclear his discussions about those operatives were more than discussion . '' The first official said overall , the documents indicate `` these were ideas , not fully or even partially planned plots . '' Other materials taken from Osama bin Laden 's compound in Pakistan have confirmed that the al Qaeda leader communicated with the Yemen-based group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula , according to a third U.S. official , familiar with the ongoing U.S. analysis of the documents . The search through bin Laden 's materials has also found direct evidence that while in hiding in Pakistan , bin Laden was encouraging direct plots to attack Americans and U.S. interests in Europe late last year , according to the U.S. official . There were several threats at the time that led the United States to issue an October 2010 alert for Americans traveling in Europe , the source emphasized . Bin Laden was `` aware , supportive and trying to motivate his operatives in Europe . He was pushing them , '' the source said . The U.S. intelligence community had classified information at the time suggesting that bin Laden was involved , the U.S. official said , but the documents taken from the compound have provided confirmation . Officials have previously said bin Laden always placed a top priority on trying to attack Americans .
Documents confirm that Osama bin Laden was pushing for attacks against Americans in Europe . The United States killed bin Laden on May 2 . Documents recovered from his compound speak of an attack on Obama and Petraeus .