White House: Photos will not be released

[old_gregg]

Hmmm, I might disagree with you re whether its a "good" fake.

the pixelated bottom half is apparent with a bigger picture, but for a couple of days all that were available were smaller ones that looked pretty authentic.

[DapperDan]

They may not have any choice in the matter:

But all the agonizing may have been for naught. According to Daniel Metcalfe, the former chief of the Department of Justice's Office of Information and Privacy—a post that effectively made him the government's top expert in the Freedom of Information Act—the odds are better than even that a FOIA lawsuit seeking the photo's release would succeed.

"If someone brought a FOIA complaint seeking the photo, and the government had improperly classified it, I think the government would lose," Metcalfe, who supervised the defense of more than 500 FOIA and Privacy Act lawsuits for the U.S., told Gawker. He is now the executive director of the Collaboration on Government Secrecy at American University's Washington College of Law.

"As far as photos of the corpse go," said Kel McClanahan, the executive director of National Security Counselors, a law firm specializing in litigating secrecy issues, "there's nothing I can reasonably think of that would exempt that, unless someone classified them." The government could conceivably try to deny a FOIA request for the photos based on the statute's privacy exemptions, but that would put it in the awkward position of going to court to protect Osama bin Laden's surviving family members' privacy.

http://gawker.com/#!5798634/ex+justice-department-official-obama-could-be-forced-to-release-the-osama-death-photos

[bluegoose]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42900991..._of_bin_laden/

Obama goes back to being a pussy because he doesn't want people in the middle east to get upset about the photos and doesn't want to hear idiots claim that the photos are doctored.

No surprise.

Why in the world would you or anyone want to see photos of a guy with a couple of bullets in his brain? Personal satisfaction in seeing his dead carcass lying there, lifeless? To prove that he is actually dead?

People will believe what they want to believe. If Presidential statements, multiple personal accounts and eyewitness reports aren't good enough for you, then I highly doubt that seeing a picture will satisfy you any more.

[YOhio]

Why in the world would you or anyone want to see photos of a guy with a couple of bullets in his brain? Personal satisfaction in seeing his dead carcass lying there, lifeless? To prove that he is actually dead?

People will believe what they want to believe. If Presidential statements, multiple personal accounts and eyewitness reports aren't good enough for you, then I highly doubt that seeing a picture will satisfy you any more.

I don't think he trusts the men and women of our armed forces. That's the only reason I can think of.

[il Padrino Ute]

Why in the world would you or anyone want to see photos of a guy with a couple of bullets in his brain? Personal satisfaction in seeing his dead carcass lying there, lifeless? To prove that he is actually dead?

People will believe what they want to believe. If Presidential statements, multiple personal accounts and eyewitness reports aren't good enough for you, then I highly doubt that seeing a picture will satisfy you any more.

I don't really want to see the photos. I was just making a comment about Obama returning to his wuss ways because he doesn't want to make the terrorists mad about bin Laden being killed. This is just another example of political correctness run amok.

To hell with the terrorists. If they don't like seeing their beloved figurehead with his head blown apart, they shouldn't <redacted> with the US.

[il Padrino Ute]

I don't think he trusts the men and women of our armed forces. That's the only reason I can think of.

You're back on the list.

[falafel]

I don't really want to see the photos. I was just making a comment about Obama returning to his wuss ways because he doesn't want to make the terrorists mad about bin Laden being killed. This is just another example of political correctness run amok.

To hell with the terrorists. If they don't like seeing their beloved figurehead with his head blown apart, they shouldn't <redacted> with the US.

Hmmm, just to stoke the fire a bit... you can't think of any other reason to hold back the pictures than political correctness? Do you really think that is the ultimate and biggest impact that action could have?

[il Padrino Ute]

Hmmm, just to stoke the fire a bit... you can't think of any other reason to hold back the pictures than political correctness? Do you really think that is the ultimate and biggest impact that action could have?

I suppose if I tried, I could come up with a reason to not release the photos. However, I'm just commenting on the reason Obama gave for not releasing them.

[NorthwestUteFan]

Why in the world would you or anyone want to see photos of a guy with a couple of bullets in his brain? Personal satisfaction in seeing his dead carcass lying there, lifeless? To prove that he is actually dead?

People will believe what they want to believe. If Presidential statements, multiple personal accounts and eyewitness reports aren't good enough for you, then I highly doubt that seeing a picture will satisfy you any more.

This reason stands alone. And it isn't necessarily for Americans, but for the rest of the world as well.

Release the picture and remove (essentially) all doubt that America's word is its' bond.

[falafel]

This reason stands alone. And it isn't necessarily for Americans, but for the rest of the world as well.

Release the picture and remove (essentially) all doubt that America's word is its' bond.

Isn't OBL's family's word that he's dead good enough?

Even if it isn't, under what circumstances would OBL actually be alive? And how does that present a problem if he is? Here are the possibilities, as I see them:

1. OBL was not in the compound at all. SEALS, the President, etc. completely fabricated the story, possibly after learning that their info was bad. Here, OBL is still alive, still free. Certainly he and Al Qaeda would announce to the world that he lives, humiliating the U.S. So producing the photos is pointless, b/c OBL will prove them to be fakes by releasing a video with today's Al Jazeera newspaper.

I haven't seen this happen. To the contrary, his family, including his daughter who was allegedly present, has stated that OBL was killed in her presence.

2. OBL was in the compound, but was taken prisoner instead of being killed. Perhaps the U.S. wants to bleed all the info out of him they can in some secret Euro torture prison.

If this is the case, who cares? He's in U.S. hands. If the U.S. has captured him and are keeping him a secret prisoner, there's no way he's not already a dead man walking. They'll bleed him for info and then kill him. No way they announce he's dead only to later recant and try him for international crimes.

I just don't see how releasing the photos changes anything.

[NorthwestUteFan]

All I am saying is this: if they release the pictures, no logical leap is required. The proof would be in the pudding, so to speak. Everybody in the world knows who the dude is/was, and that we wanted to get him. The very fact that the story has changed so much is disconcerting.

For the Pres to campaign saying the following: "Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency."

[YOUTUBE]72g7qmeP1dE[/YOUTUBE]

and then to hold a news conference and announce to the world "We got him, and we disposed of the body!, but we won't release the pictures" seems disingenuous.


But then again, perhaps some foreign entity would use the operation and the pictures as Exhibit A in a war crimes tribunal.

Personally I have very little doubt that he is in fact dead and feeding the fishes. I also think that releasing the pics will lend a necessary amount of credibility to the US.

[Jeff Lebowski]

All I am saying is this: if they release the pictures, no logical leap is required. The proof would be in the pudding, so to speak. Everybody in the world knows who the dude is/was, and that we wanted to get him. The very fact that the story has changed so much is disconcerting.

That's funny. As if those pre-disposed to conspiracy theories would be convinced by a photo. Photo-shopping is easy.

If your motivation to release a photo is to provide proof that he is dead, you are wasting your time.

[byu71]

I am waiting to see what Glen Beck has to say. Perhaps a deal was made with Osama. He agrees to stop going after us and we pretend he was killed so we don't have to keep going after him. I will still wait to see what Beck or Trump says.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

The WH formally announces that the photos won't be released, but I am guessing that there will be an informal "leak" of the photos to the media at some later time when the shock and awe has settled down.

I'm guessing fall of next year.

[Viking]

If up to me, i would have voted for building a 110-story building just for Osama.

We'd put him on the top floor of the building (which he alone would occupy) and fly a drone into the building. We would see how he reacts as the fire slowly makes its way up the building and he's faced with either jumping out of the building or burning to death.

Of course, the entire incident would be broadcast live throughout the world.