The White House has announced President Obama will not release post-mortem photos of Osama bin Laden. President Obama and his advisers considered releasing the pictures, which show bin Laden with gunshot wounds to the head, in order to quash any doubts the al Qaeda leader is still alive. Press Secretary Jay Carney said the decision was reached after careful consideration of what circulating the pictures would mean for national security.
"The fact of the matter is, as the president described, these are graphic photographs of someone who was shot in the face -- the head, rather. It is not in our national security interests to allow those images, as has been in the past been the case, to become icons to rally opinion against the United States. The president's number one priority is the safety and security of American citizens at home and Americans abroad. There is no need to release these photographs to establish Osama bin Laden's identity. And he saw no other compelling reason to release them, given the potential for national security risks. And further, because he believes, as he said so clearly, this is not who we are,” Carney said, adding that the President’s decision includes “all visual evidence,” including photos and videos of bin Laden’s burial at sea.
President Obama talks about his decision in an interview on 60 Minutes scheduled to air this Sunday. “It is important to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool,” he tells Steve Kroft in the interview.
"There is no doubt that Osama bin Laden is dead. Certainly there is no doubt among al Qaeda members that he is dead. So we don't think that a photograph in and of itself is going to make any difference,” President Obama added.
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