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Releasing the Osama kill photo

Should the photo(s) be released?

  • Yes

    Votes: 120 52.4%

  • No

    Votes: 79 34.5%

  • Not sure

    Votes: 30 13.1%
  • Total voters
    229
Undesired Walrus said:
First of all, if he hadn't been killed and was still alive, I'm confident every attempt be made by Al Qaeda to announce to the world that OBL was indeed still living, humiliating the United States and perpetually diminishing their credibility around the world.
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To me, that is the best evidence that he's dead, although it's not a direct kind of evidence. The size of the PR victory Al Qaeda would have if it could prove bin Laden was alive can't be overstated. All it would take would be a non-doctored photo of him holding todays newspaper.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they released a doctored photo of him holding todays newspaper. Lots of people would see the forgery but lots of others wouldn't.
 
John Jones said:
I remember http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Eagle_Claw in 1980.

The Iranians displayed the charred corpses of USA servicemen on TV, and the US government called it a desecration of their bodies.

Just saying.
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Nobody was denying they were dead though. Displaying charred corpses just for the sake of displaying them is desecration.

The debate over whether to release the bin Laden photos is to prove to doubters that he is actually dead. I think the reason the US isn't releasing the photos is partly to avoid being seen as desecrating the body.
 
I did address that issue in my first post.
Essentially, if it were a CT (not saying it is), then that is an easy fix. You have the CIA "identity expert" go on all the talk shows and explain that it is an impostor. The average person has no credible way to tell one way or the other.

At the end of the day, we all hope he is dead. As such, it wouldn't take much to trick us.

I like this president (mostly) and want to believe him, but we all know that our leaders lie. I just don't know why we aren't asking for evidence. We seem to hold it as borderline sacred in all other cases.

One other point, my comments are not really related to my opinion about releasing the photos or not, so I apologize for the derail.

I really don't care too much about seeing the photos. My only interest would be from an evidence standpoint, and as has been stated before, this is hardly foolproof evidence.

Now the SEAL video....that would be cool (but it wouldn't even have to be OBL for that to be cool).
 
Mr. Purple said:
Now the SEAL video....that would be cool (but it wouldn't even have to be OBL for that to be cool).
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I'd like to see that as well. I bet it can be edited to avoid showing anything they want to keep secret or that is deemed too violent.
 
Mr. Purple said:
I did address that issue in my first post.
Essentially, if it were a CT (not saying it is), then that is an easy fix. You have the CIA "identity expert" go on all the talk shows and explain that it is an impostor. The average person has no credible way to tell one way or the other.
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First image that popped into my head was a CIA identity expert on Jimmy Kimmel, but whatever..;)

No, it would be a very hard fix. They would have to explain why they believed it was an impostor, and what their evidence for that was. If it was Osama, their evidence would be seen as false. Besides, a quick mouth swab sent to Al Jazeera by a courier would prove his continued existence. There are far too many unknowns.

The US would just have too much to lose by pretending to have killed him, and if they had the option to set it anywhere, I doubt they would have chosen the heart of Pakistan, risking inflaming tense international relations.
 
I predict we'll get the photos from a FOIA request soon enough.
 
Undesired Walrus said:
First image that popped into my head was a CIA identity expert on Jimmy Kimmel, but whatever..;)

No, it would be a very hard fix. They would have to explain why they believed it was an impostor, and what their evidence for that was. If it was Osama, their evidence would be seen as false. Besides, a quick mouth swab sent to Al Jazeera by a courier would prove his continued existence. There are far too many unknowns.

The US would just have too much to lose by pretending to have killed him, and if they had the option to set it anywhere, I doubt they would have chosen the heart of Pakistan, risking inflaming tense international relations.
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My underlining.
Beginning to see the double standard?

What evidence has been presented that he is dead?
 
Mr. Purple said:
My underlining.
Beginning to see the double standard?

What evidence has been presented that he is dead?
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Presented to who?

It's not just about the "evidence". It's about trust. We have been told that those who killed him, took video and pictures, and used that evidence to convince those in the White House what happened, who in turn have given us testimonial evidence of what happened. We also have the reactions of others as evidence, and our own personal experience on what evidence should be sufficient to give us confidence in its verity.

If trust is low enough, or personal experience in such matters experienced enough, than that evidence may or may not be sufficient.

But it is evidence, none the less.
 
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Osama bin Laden was shot in the head -- with what type of weapon again?

Has anyone considered the possibility that there just might not have been all that much left of the guy's face?
 
NewtonTrino said:
Not releasing the photos is really dumb. Information needs to be free. They need to specify a legit national security reason for not releasing the photos. This isn't something that the chief executive should have direct control over. I'm assuming someone is going to file a request and this will eventually see court.
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Not if they classify it.
 
I think the idea that nothing would convince the doubters is not accurate in this case. The truthers won't be, but there are a lot of people that would probably be open to the evidence.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
I love how the one guy has a green and orange plastic squirt gun next to him.

Note to terrorists: If the Navy SEALS come crashing through the door, a squirt gun likely won't get the job done.
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It took me a while to notice that, given the rest of the picture.

What were they doing with a squirt gun??
 
Ha. Just now, the team leader here it talking about not believing it and also about oil. :(
 
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