When Will Evidence Of Bin Laden’s Death Be Released?
Last night world-renowned military blogger Michael Yon wrote about the importance of releasing photos of Osama bin Laden’s body immediately, and not just to satisfy the morbid curiosity of celebrating westerners, but to prove to his followers that the monster is, indeed, truly at room temperature.
High resolution photos of bin Laden with a bullet in his head should be released at once. We cannot allow bin Laden to become a permanent cult figure. The cult of Saddam in Iraq (Saddam had a strong cult) was badly damaged by the photos/videos of his death. This is not about another battle that we are now going to fight. The battle to break this cult.
A photo purporting to be bin Laden has already been making the rounds on the internet (I posted a copy of it here last night), but there’s been no confirmation. Indeed, given that there’s evidence that this photo was already circulating well before when the raid that killed bin Laden was reported to have taken place, it is almost certainly a fake.
Which begs the question: When will we get real evidence?
Some are already scratching their heads at how quickly bin Laden’s body was disposed of, being buried at sea in accordance with Islamic custom, and there are already conspiracies hatching.
It wasn’t really bin Laden. The raid was staged for the political benefit of Barack Obama. The raid was staged to justify the escalation of war in the middle east, possibly in Libya or even Pakistan. Etc., etc.
Obviously, no matter what level of evidence is released, some are going to maintain that there was a conspiracy. But keeping all evidence from the public, up to and including photos of the monster laying dead no matter how grisly, is only going to stoke those fires. Not to mention, as Yon points out above, feed the cult worship of bin Laden by his extremist brethren.
Update: Apparently the White House is debating whether or not to release the pictures.
The argument against releasing them? They’re gruesome. But be that as it may, the world needs to see them.
Tags: Osama Bin Laden, War On Terror
