News / World
White House to Release Photo of Osama bin Laden's Corpse
President Obama to Allow Release of Osama Death Photo
A senior U.S. official told CNN that there are 3 sets of photos that were taken on the day that bin Laden was murdered. The first set of photos shows bin Laden's body in a hangar just moments after the raid occurred. The second set shows the burial of bin Laden's body at sea. The third set includes photos of the raid itself.
According to the official, the photo that show bin Laden's face the clearest is also the most graphic and is thus not appropriate to be shown by the media.
There is no official word yet on when the White House plans to release the first photo.
The Obama administration understands the sensitive nature of the photos and is therefore thinking carefully about what they decide to release.
"We also want to anticipate what the reaction might be on the part of al Qaeda or others to the release of certain information so that we can take the appropriate steps beforehand," said John Brennan, deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism and homeland security. "So any other material, whether it be photos or videos or whatever else, we are looking at it and will make the appropriate decisions."
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers is not sure if the adminstration should release any photo of Osama's dead body at all.
"It's something that we're gonna have to work through," said Rogers. "We want to make sure that we maintain dignity, if there was any, in Osama bin Laden, so that we don't inflame problems other places in the world, and still provide enough evidence that people are confident that it was Osama bin Laden."
Emad El-Din Shahin, a professor of religion at the University of Notre Dame, explained the predicament quite well.
"On the one hand, it needs to prove to the world that bin Laden is dead; on the other, it also needs to avoid provoking the sentiments of Muslims and enraging bin Laden's followers," said Shahin. "It would be better if the U.S. can prove bin Laden's death without showing his grisly death photos."
One concern is that people may start to doubt whether bin Laden was actually killed unless they see some kind of proof. But former Secretary of State Colin Powell understands that a single photo will not constitute definitive proof for many people.
"There will be skeptics out there as you know whether in the Middle East (or elsewhere)," said Powell. "Even if you show the picture, there'll be skeptics. That's just the nature of the world. Because they'll say it was Photoshopped."
(Sources: TMZ.com, CNN.com)
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