"That’s not who we are," Obama said.
The decision came this morning after days of debate within the White House. Pressure had been mounting on U.S. officials to release the images — which reportedly show bin Laden with a bullet wound in his head — as visual confirmation of the al Qaeda leader’s death.
In an interview with CBS’ "60 Minutes," Obama said DNA evidence and facial recognition analysis are enough proof of bin Laden’s demise; there was no need to release the photos.
"We don’t trot out this stuff as trophies," the president said, according to a transcript of the interview released by the White House. "The fact of the matter is, this is somebody who was deserving of the justice that he received."
The graphic photos could create a security risk to Americans if they were used as propaganda by bin Laden supporters to incite violence, the president said.
"We don’t need to spike the football," Obama said.Source: Newark Star-Ledger
Well, now the Internet is being flooded with photos of everyone who was killed EXCEPT for Bin Laden. And plenty of fake Bin Laden photos are circulating as well, including one that aired on Pakistani television.
So let's recap:
- The US carries out a raid that results in the killing of the most evil man in the world. (Verdict: Awesome!)
- The Obama administration spends three days contradicting nearly every major plot point in the story (Verdict: Typical Obama!)
- Conspiracy theories abound that Bin Laden is still alive or was already dead to begin with. (Verdict: Ugh...)
- Amidst the chaos he allowed to fester and grow, Obama emerges to state emphatically that he won't release the photos because he doesn't want to, uh... Whatever he doesn't want to do or something... (Verdict: What doesn't he want to do? Celebrate victory? Debunk conspiracy theories? What????)
- Now Reuters has released the photos of jihadis who were killed during the raid. Tensions will be raised and conspiracy theories about Bin Laden's true fate will continue. And Obama takes the faux-high ground. (Verdict: We all should have seen this coming!)
UPDATE: A fake Bin Laden death photo is making its way around Congress! It seems the fake has been seen by several lawmakers, including Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) (link). Make no mistake, all of this confusion is coming directly from the leadership vacuum in the Oval Office.
