White House Won't Release Dead Osama Bin Laden Photo

Well, guess Leon Panetta was wrong: yesterday, there was chatter that the release of photos of a deceased Osama bin Laden was imminent, and CIA director Panetta added to it when he said, "I don't think there was any question that ultimately a photograph would be presented to the public." However, President Obama announced today that he has decided not to release photos of bin Laden's body. "That's not who we are. We don't trot this stuff out as trophies. We don't need to spike the football," he said during a 60 Minutes interview.

Officials reportedly have three sets of photos of bin Laden, who was shot in the chest, and killed by a shot above his left eye which blew away part of his skull. But they ultimately felt it would be inappropriate to release what they describe as "gruesome" photographs. One NYPost reader felt differently: "I lived through the horrors of 9/11/01 -- seeing, hearing, smelling the most godawful things. Memories I never asked for and can never erase. I can handle this, and I want to see this," wrote Leslie Feffer. But they do still have plenty of viral Obama photos to peruse.

While some Americans may be mad about not seeing bin Laden's corpse, many Muslims are told the News they were still upset about the manner in which he was "buried." "[Bin Laden] was a very bad man. I do not like the things he did. I do not believe in the things he said. It is better that he is gone, [but] the body belongs to God. We have to bury it," said Mohamed Zohny, owner of Islamic Fashion in Brooklyn.

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By Ben Yakas in News on May 4, 2011 4:49 PM

Comments [rss]

Guest

We have to bury it," said Mohamed Zohny

You, sir, are welcome to swim out into whatever body of water he was thrown into, and retrieve it for burial. The rest of us don't give a damn.

RonaldReagana

this is a crock. as if our gov wants us commoners to know what it's up to. got to laugh at all the pseudo pundits who comment on this 'news' item. ever think your view is obfuscated by the utter lies we are being told? total bollocks.

Ronnie M Petroviak

Osama's been dead since 2001, obama just wants to say, HEY look at me, I "also killed" laden when we thought we did in 2005. Also, look very very close to all the "videos" osama has sent, look at the nose. They are different in everyone. Its been staged for oil.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2...

and

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2...

JoanCollins

Refresh my memory--did we ever get to see Saddam Hussein's corpse after his head popped off during the hanging? I dont believe the Bush WH released those images (though, you could just as well look up the awful cellphone video online). If the WH releases these images it will give a number of people satisfaction, but it will enflame and further radicalize a much larger population. Do we really want to make our national security issues any more tenuous? If BO pulled off this stealth mission, a brilliant, precise calculation, let's at least trust his judgement on this call.

If we release these photos, splash them across every front page, it'll be tantamount to a barbarian parading around with a severed head. Let's pretend were better than our most quietly held savage desires and bloodlust.

sgod

Your memory is off on the Saddam thing. The Iraqi government did release an official video of Saddam's execution, right up until the moment before he was dropped. The Iraqi guy who was decapitated when hanged was Saddam's half brother.

JoanCollins

Duly noted, sgod. Thank you. But it wasn't the US government's decision, it was the Iraqis. I don't remember Bush's comments on the matter. Again, I think it would be totally classless to release the photos, but that's just me. If we can get past the wanting to see the gross stuff, I'm interested to see what BO's next move will be. Hopefully expediting the draw down in Afghanistan and withdrawing US support from Pakistan. That money would be better spent here (I know, duh).

SonnyBobiche

"It will enflame and further radicalize a much larger population."

Such an old canard. How much more radicalized were they than when they attacked us based solely on the presence of American soldiers in Saudi.

If Muslims hated Bin laden, as the President says, what's the big deal? Then again, if Muslims are unable to control their baser emotions then they must always be treated like children. They riot over cartoons and burned books, after all. Westerners are supposed to take any offense because we are civilized.

SonnyBobiche

Pictures of three of Bin-Laden's minions taken by the Pakistanis. These are gory but nothing as bad as the ones of people jumping from the towers. The one's of Bin-Laden can't be worse, so why won't Obama release them?

http://goo.gl/XKVa9

S.D.

Be direct: Are you calling it a (gasp) Conspiracy???
Surely you don't want the Long Form Death Certificate???

Kidding aside, just because we can be barbaric, does not mean we have to.

Putting dead bodies of criminals on display at Traitors gate should be left behind in the middle ages.

69GeorgeWBush69

I'm glad they weren't released. We're better than that, and we needed the rest of the world to know that.

nice job

BUT I'M AMERICAN AND I WANT BLOOOOOOOOD GODDAMMIT. LET ME SEE THE GUTS. I WANT TO SMELL IT. I WANT TO FEEL THE SPLATTERED VISCERA WITH MY HANDS. RUN MY TONGUE OVER IT. GIVE IT TO ME!

SonnyBobiche

Check the Reuters link below.

BTW, no people are more blood thirsty than our enemies. You may be too young to remember how a Palestinian shot our ambassador to Jordan in the 1970s and then dipped his hand on the diplomat's blood and licked it. In 1979 the body parts of our dead soldiers in the failed hostage rescue attempt were held up by an Iranian Iman and displayed for the cameras. In Mogadishu they dragged dead bodies through the streets. It goes on.

Giving a proper Islamic funeral to a man that the President declared is not a "true Muslim" is something only the USA would do.

nice job

hell yeah i'm with you man: we should be gleeful in the presence of gore OUT OF BITTERNESS AND REVENGE. give those iranians or arabians or whatever fuck they are a taste of their own BARBARIC medicine, right?

tastes so good!

SonnyBobiche

Tell that to the President. He's the one that ordered an execution in cold blood.

nice job

in all seriousness i agree with you on that point. he should have been apprehended and not shot unarmed in his pajamas. it was a targeted assassination 100% and i find it ironic and rather contrary to the civilization that we're supposed to be representing.

Guest

Wasn't he always wearing pajamas?

S.D.

Suppose he had a weapon or grenade under his PJ's??

ktinnyc

It was President George W. Bush that "signed Public Law 107-40, in which Congress authorized the president 'to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.'

http://www.tnr.com/article/pol...

SonnyBobiche

Implemented by? Seriously, think about all of the things that Obama criticized as a candidate. As President he is using every single executive order, program, rule and law that Bush push through to prosecute the war. Listen to his latest statements explaining this raid. Better yet, read and imagine that it is Bush talking. It's eery.

Admiration should not be blind. I remember that during the Bush years, the left kept saying that dissent was the highest form of patriotism. Now dissent is called being racist.

ktinnyc

Any President would have authorized the assassination. It just turned out it was under President Obama's administration that they found and killed bin Laden.