The risks of release outweigh the benefits…Conspiracy theorists around the world will just claim the photos are doctored anyway, and there is a real risk that releasing the photos will only serve to inflame public opinion in the Middle East…Imagine how the American people would react if Al Qaeda killed one of our troops or military leaders, and put photos of the body on the internet…Osama bin Laden is not a trophy—he is dead and let’s now focus on continuing the fight until Al Qaeda has been eliminated.
President Obama, in a “60 MInutes” interview, set to air this Sunday. (via thesmithian)

(via apsies)

Source: thesmithian

Don’t Release the Photos | The New Yorker

noraleah:

I don’t agree with this entirely, but it’s a great point.

ABC News is reporting that the first image of bin Laden that the White House may show us is “bloody and gruesome, with a bullet wound to his head above his left eye.” If it’s released, this is the image that will instantly supplant every other account of Sunday’s raid as the iconic representation of America’s moment of triumph over its most wanted enemy. Is that what we want—the official equivalent of the Saddam hanging video? Did we learn nothing from the past decade about the overwhelming power of crude images of violence to define and polarize our historical moment? The Abu Ghraib photographs were unofficial documents of an official policy that was supposed to be kept secret, but if nothing else, they should have taught us that a photograph of the violence you inflict is always, in very large measure, a self-portrait. In getting rid of bin Laden, Obama has made the greatest step yet toward being able to put that era behind us. Do we want a photo of bin Laden’s bullet-punctured skull to eclipse this moment?

Source: somethingchanged

this might not hurt, but close your eyes anyways: From the White House presser going on now.

andrewgraham:

Reporter: “Were any results of such [“enhanced interrogation”] techniques used to track down Bin Laden?”

Jay Carney, White House press secretary: “No single piece of information led to the successful mission that went down on Sunday. … Reporting from detainees was just a slice of the information gathered by incredibly diligent professionals over the years. It would be strange pejorative to suggest that a piece of information that was gathered eight years ago led to what happened on Sunday. That’s just not the case.”

White House To Release Bin Laden Death Photo

soupsoup:

WHITE HOUSE TO RELEASE BIN LADEN DEATH PHOTO
Tue May 03 2011 10:22:50 ET

President Obama decided Tuesday morning to release at least one photo showing Osama Bin Laden’s death, a top source claims.

The images, being described as ‘graphic’, are bound to stir emotions in the east and the west, and will likely become the most viewed photographs in modern history.

One image shows a bullet wound to his head above his left eye.

Will it remove all doubt about the death?

The exact timing on the release is being debated.

Developing…

I hope I don’t have to see it on my Tumblr dashboard…

(via theweekmagazine)

Source: soupsoup

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush: Celebrating A Death

jacquesofalltrades:

I think this is an impressive and introspective piece that captures what a lot of Americans and others are feeling today.

Osama Bin Laden never felt any remorse for his murderous ways and the heartbreak that trailed behind him. He viewed his actions as part of a struggle that allowed him to transcend any moral concerns. He and his followers routinely slaughtered the innocent. He was ruthless in using faith as a means to the very worst ends. To reiterate what the President said in his announcement of bin Laden’s death: “Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader, he was a mass murderer of Muslims.” His death is satisfying not only because of what he did, but because it prevents him from doing any more violence in the future in the name of religion.

When I think of bin Laden I think of evil.

But I have to be careful in my celebrations of bin Laden’s death…

…

So, let us mute our celebrations. Let any satisfaction be grim and grounded in the foundation of justice for all who have suffered at bin Laden’s bloody hands. And also justice for crimes against God — for using God as an instrument of terror and and promoting distrust between peoples of different religions and nations. Let us put bin Laden’s body in the ground, and in doing so bury his disastrous and blasphemous religious legacy.