I’m going to double down on my belief that photos of Osama bin Laden’s body should be released now that I’ve read President Obama’s justification for holding them back:
President Obama decided Wednesday not to release photos of Osama bin Laden’s body, saying such images could incite violence and be interpreted as displaying “trophies” of his death, the White House said. “It’s important for us 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,” Obama said in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” program.
Sorry. That’s not good enough. There are specific reasons for keeping things classified, and the fact that something “could” incite violence or might be used in a way that makes life more difficult for the White House isn’t one of them. That’s little more than an all-purpose excuse that can be used for keeping anything classified.
Bottom line: distasteful or not, there’s a clear and obvious public interest in the killing of the mastermind of 9/11. Unless releasing the photos would compromise operational details of the raid, the American public has as much right to see them as Obama does.
UPDATE: I’d add that although photos obviously wouldn’t change the minds of all the conspiracy theorists who think the whole thing was faked, it would change some of them. That’s pretty worthwhile.
