WH won’t release photos of Osama
CBS News is reporting that the President won’t be releasing the low-wind resistance pictures of Osama bin Laden;
In an interview with Steve Kroft for this Sunday’s “60 Minutes” conduced today, President Obama said he won’t release post-mortem images of Osama bin Laden taken to prove his death.
“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,” said the president.
I’m a bit relieved, actually. I visit a lot of websites everyday and I don’t need the gruesome pictures of a dead bin Laden assaulting my senses at every click. And it kind of dilutes our outrage at pictures of dead or maimed US soldiers that get published by our own media as well as Islamists.
Remember the blogosphere’s outrage when an AP (I believe) photographer released pictures of a young soldier’s final moments just a few months ago? And the furor we raised about photos from the troops’ final flights into Dover AFB?
Besides, pictures won’t convince anyone who isn’t already convinced that bin Laden is dead in the wonderful world that we’ve created of phonies and photoshops.
Does anyone really believe that Alex Jones or Gordon Duff will abandon their ‘deather’ beliefs because of a few pictures? Nor will the doubters in the Islamic world. In fact, pictures would only fuel the debate because one eye brow isn’t in the right position, or one cheekbone is higher than the other. Of course, the fact that they’re not releasing the pictures will probably fuel as much debate over the death, too, so either way it’s a loser.
This is one time I’ll give brief applause to the President for making the correct decision.
ADDED: Tman also sent us a link in which the president says many of the same things I wrote.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden
I disagree. Put the photos out there for the whole world to see if they want to. If you don’t want to look at them you don’t have to. I want to see them.
Very well said, Jonn and I agree.
As much as I’d like to see not just a photo but watch the whole video, this is the right decision. This isn’t about kowtowing to Islamists. This is about upholding our ideals and the very things that make us, “better than that”.
He’s chum, let him stay that way. We need to quit fighting with each other over this piece of sh*t’s filthy corpse and focus on what’s important. Fighting season is upon us and as we all know, this aint over by a long shot.
I agree as well Jonn, we lose the high ground when we treat them the way they treat us. Kind of a shame that others like Malkin disagree on this one, but so it goes. Not worth the trouble that releasing these would put our brothers and sisters in.
TSO #3: There it is! The pix are not worth a drop of their blood.
And, as usual Jonn, well said.
Drudge reports that Reuters released the photos; of course you cannot get on their site as everybody and their grandmother trying to do the same…
My only complaint is that the WH didn’t release these photos so that we wouldn’t “offend Muslim sensibilities.”
Sc**w their sensibilities. They’re going to be “offended” by the fact we killed him.
I don’t remember them being worried about our sensibilities when they hung up the burned, tattered corpses of our contractors to flap in the breeze.
They’ll be offended no matter what we do; doing the right thing then costs us no more than doing the wrong one. People will believe what they want to believe in the digital age; no photograph will change it.
The photos are probably going to leak, they always do, I wouldn’t be surprised if a site like Oogrish has them eventually. but you are right, john, people need to know, and to see. I’d even release the *edited* helmet cam footage, but I’m worried that would show him trying to surrender when they capped him.
There is no helmet cam footage…….they say contact was lost for 25 minutes once the SEALs hit the compound…..
fishy if you ask me…….
so Doc you may be right….he may have been trying to surrender…..but personally I could care less what he was doing…just glad he’s aired out….and sunk. F’em
I’m a bit relieved, actually. I visit a lot of websites everyday and I don’t need the gruesome pictures of a dead bin Laden assaulting my senses at every click. And it kind of dilutes our outrage at pictures of dead or maimed US soldiers that get published by our own media as well as Islamists. Remember the blogosphere’s outrage when an AP (I believe) photographer released pictures of a young soldier’s final moments just a few months ago? And the furor we raised about photos from the troops’ final flights into Dover AFB? ========== Well, I guess *you* are being consistent, but the Left sure is not doing so. Remember that their rationale behind publishing photos of American military war dead was “to show the nation the consequences of war”. Well, using that rationale, wouldn’t publishing the photos of Osama bin DEAD “show the world the consequences of going to war with the United States of America”? “F-ck with us and you will end up like this”. No, instead of that, the message we send to our enemies is “f-ck with us and (1) if captured, we will set you up nicely at Club Gitmo with glazed chicken and movies, etc and (2) if we decide to bring you to justice in court, we’ll provide you great lawyers and work to get you American rights under our US Constitution and try you in civilian court instead of a military tribunal and (3) if we kill you, we’ll honor you with a traditional funeral and burial and then respect you by not publishing the photos of your death.” Wow, that sure is making our enemies shake in their boots about f-cking with the United States! Publish the f-cking photos. This should not be a big deal. The Muslims go batshit crazy when a fast food joint has a picture on their dessert that looks like some Muslim symbol or when a soccer ball has the wrong flag on it. They’re going to go batshit crazy no matter what the hell we do. This is a news story. Publish the damn… Read more »
I don’t remember them being worried about our sensibilities when they hung up the burned, tattered corpses of our contractors to flap in the breeze.
==========
Yep. Publishing photos of Osama bin DEAD has absolutely NO moral equivalence of Muslim f-ckers doing this: Two Days in Fallujah.
And I didn’t hear any Muslims cry offense to their people doing that to us. So I don’t give a pig’s ass what they have to say about us publishing photos as a news story of Osama bin DEAD.
That juxtaposing is working for me. I don’t have a problem with seeing dead people. I want to believe that we are treating this the way we learned as a kid…two wrongs don’t make a right kind of thing but the cynic in me says that Obama is protecting the Muslims not his own troops.