Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
Confirmed by this CBS report, as the President has already taped his 60 Minutes spot.
There are a number of reasons to show them: Confirmation. Curiosity. Morbid curiosity. A warning to those who may think of attacking America.
The arguments against it: The death is not legitimately disputed and therefore needs no confirmation. We have no morbid curiosity. We are classy enough not to humiliate the enemy after killing him. It might inflame the terrorists.
Looks like a jump ball to me.
I note the terrorists had no hesitation in releasing videos of Americans as they decapitated them, but I don't want to use terrorist actions as a model for our behavior.
However we haven't hesitated to release death photos in the past (Warning: Images found at this link are graphic in nature), as we did with Saddam's pig Latin named sons Uday and Qusay.
I'm sure this photo of Saddam being orally probed like he was a horse being sold could have inflamed a few die hard killers:
Death by itself has never been a reason for American news organizations to withhold pictures. Who can forget John McSherry?:
I watched John actually die on television so many times on the news that evening that I wondered why we refuse to show executions. John was a good guy. Why do we keep the death of bad people so solemn and sacred?
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Oct '10
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
Thanks for the memories, Tommy.
I have no doubt that any photos that do exist will make their way into the public sphere sooner or later. Viva WikiLeaks!
Jun '10
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
The only thing they should release is the DNA comparison. That's better proof anyway.
Aug '10
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
Tommy,
Your point is well made and an appropriate point for discussion, but could I request that you place these photos after the break in the "read more" area. I would rather not look at them every time I come to this page today.
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
I am firmly in the "no photo" camp for the reason you mention here -- The death is not legitimately disputed and therefore needs no confirmation. I am unaware of any purpose it would serve (satisfying morbid curiosity is not a government responsibility, I don't think), but I suspect I am in the minority position here on Ricochet. I saw that Obama said something to the effect of, "There's no need to spike a football here." I fully agree.
May '10
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
Yeah, images like this will surely quiet the conspiracy theorists on the "Arab Street."
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
Nathaniel Wright: Tommy,
Your point is well made and an appropriate point for discussion, but could I request that you place these photos after the break in the "read more" area. I would rather not look at them every time I come to this page today. · May 4 at 12:00pm
Nathaniel,
Already taken care of. My apologies for the images. But I'm glad you made the point - it is the very issue at hand.
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
EJHill
Yeah, images like this will surely quiet the conspiracy theorists on the "Arab Street." · May 4 at 12:02pm
Very interesting point. I often wonder what a defendant in a courtroom feels like when this is the evidence that convicts him. It's beyond his understanding, but it puts him behind bars for life.
May '10
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
And this is supposed to be a "by-the-book civil liberties" crowd. Instead it's a "Knock-him-off-and-then-dump-the-evidence-into-the-Arabian-Sea" one. If anyone disputes the DNA evidence they sure ain't gonna get another sample.
Oct '10
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
Show the photos. Send a message to terrorists across the world that you cannot escape the reach of the US military. I think that Obama did not want to disrupt his victory lap of photo ops at Ground Zero and Arlington Cemetery. He wants the TV screen all to himself, not a split screen with a photo of Bin Laden's dead face. They've been preparing this mission for several months--I expect that the decision to (not) make public the photos was probably made months ago.
Remember--any statement by President Obama has an expiration date. These will be released eventually. Sooner rather than later, I expect. In a frame, right next to the long-form birth certificate.
Edited on May 4, 2011 at 12:34pmMar '11
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
There are, of course, a lotta people who believe Mr Bin Laden was not responsible for 9/11 - such people are not gonna believe pics and dna evidence, anyway.
But I think the American people, and especially the relatives of those lost, deserve to see the pics and videos (assuming they don't contain classifed info.).
Mr Obama is basically showing more respect for the feelings of certain people in the rest of the World, than he is to those of his fellow-citizens in the USA - what a surprise.
Oct '10
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
Funny how Barack Obama was all gung-ho to release pictures from a Bush-era event no matter how much danger the release posed to America and American military personnel...yet now he refuses to release pictures from HIS event. Why? Because (wait for it...) of the danger the release poses to America and American military personnel. The man is a hypocritical political poseur plus extraordinaire.
Jun '10
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
If the photos were released, I would likely not seek them out. But this is so typical of this empty suit of a president that it almost makes me want to scream. Tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken, Obama is flying out to Ground Zero to play this kill up for all it's worth, but he doesn't have the courage to show the world the consequences of his actions. This man-boy president is pathetic. Would it be a breech of the CofC to say that I abhor this president? What a lying hypocrite and mountebank he's turning out to be. 2012 can't come soon enough for me. Please, America, get this man-boy out of office.
Edited on May 4, 2011 at 1:33pmJun '10
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
Obama's just waiting until Trump demands he release the photos...
May '10
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
Show the photos. Show the helmet-cam footage. Show the burial-at-sea footage. Show it all.
It was done on our behalf, and we paid for it. Show it.
May '10
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
"The Obama administration, in an agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union, said Thursday it will release photos of alleged abusive interrogations.
"At least 44 photographs will be released May 28, the Los Angeles Times reported. While details of the photos have not been reported, some are said to show U.S. military personnel pointing weapons at suspected terrorists during questioning.
"This will constitute visual proof that, unlike the Bush administration's claim, the abuse was not confined to Abu Ghraib and was not aberrational," said Amrit Singh, an ACLU lawyer." - UPI, April 2009
The administration then abruptly changed course, saying it would not release the photographs. The White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, explained, "The president believes that the specific case surrounding the damage that would be done to our troops and our national security has not fully been developed and put in front of the court." The ACLU accused the White House of betrayal and stonewalling. - Foreign Policy, May 28, 2009
First you say you do, and then you don't ...And then you say you will, and then you won't ...You're undecided now ...So what are you gonna do?
Apr '11
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
I agree 100%. This is more the same garbage we've been putting up with since day one of his candidacy. Won't release birth certificate, no school records, no medical records. No documentation from the Osama mission. More control for Obama, more ammunition to be used to label his opponents as kooks. A subservient media to get the job done thoroughly and quickly. I join you in your scream.
May '10
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
NY Times Monday, December 7, 2009
WASHINGTON — In a reversal of an 18-year-old military policy that critics said was hiding the ultimate cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the news media will now be allowed to photograph the flag-draped coffins of America's war dead as their bodies are returned to the United States, but only if the families of the dead agree.
Show our dead but not theirs...
Jun '10
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
EJHill
NY Times Monday, December 7, 2009
WASHINGTON — In a reversal of an 18-year-old military policy that critics said was hiding the ultimate cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the news media will now be allowed to photograph the flag-draped coffins of America's war dead as their bodies are returned to the United States, but only if the families of the dead agree.
Show our dead but not theirs... · May 4 at 3:17pm
If they want to show Osama's bacon-draped coffin, that's fine with me, but there's no reason to show the blood and gore. The SEALs deal in blood and gore, part of the job, but that's not the part they love to show the public. That's not the photo they show their kids to explain what Daddy does for a living.
Dec '10
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
I genuinely believe we are off track, here, although with good reason, given media coverage and statements from people with a political angle.
None of this makes any sense, from an operational standpoint, with respect to Special Operations. Before I became an adult, I lived my entire life around SO people and I still know many of them, old and new. They are not what most people think. Jesse Ventura is a classic example of a SO person on the margin, somebody that blabbers and boasts. However, check his time of service; he became a SEAL long after Vietnam was hot and the abundance of his words is a tip off.
Nothing about this mission, as reportedly executed, rings true. Somebody at the Ventura (low) level might brazenly talk about shooting a high value target, but a Team member, whether Delta or SEAL, would not. Team personnel are very rare in SO. The only possible reason somebody at the Team level would shoot the target is if they thought the target was about to detonate the area and, then, they would shoot to disable. There is no political input into this process, once a Team is in the field.
(contnued)
Dec '10
Re: Obama: No Bin Laden Death Photos To Be Released
There is no reason that a Team would go into that risky situation, then kill the target, then haul out the carcass. They didn't need the body for DNA, they only needed pieces.
We will never know what really transpired, but the most likely scenario is that the Team walked into a bloodbath that transpired during the minutes before they got to UBL then took care of the bodyguards that prevented UBL from being taken alive.
Young, inexperienced, soldiers may have shot the target, but not people that are the best of the best. Only complete silence, effectiveness, then a murky retreat makes sense if you are discussing the Team that is involved, plus plausible deniability (ruined by the demolished helicopter).
For what it is worth, watch for an audio link to the second hour of the Mark Levin radio program tonight and listen to the caller in the first 20 minutes, as cross-examined by Levin. That man took some risks, but his words were very forthright and, I think, edifying. In my experience, that man knows what he is talking about. Please, judge for yourself.