Still no verified image of Osama bin Laden dead.
Photographs acquired by Reuters and taken about an hour after the U.S. assault on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan show three dead men lying in pools of blood, but no weapons.
The photos, taken by a Pakistani security official who entered the compound after the early morning raid on Monday, show two men dressed in traditional Pakistani garb and one in a t-shirt, with blood streaming from their ears, noses and mouths.
The official, who wished to remain anonymous, sold the pictures to Reuters.
None of the men looked like bin Laden. U.S. President Barack Obama decided not to release photos of his body because it could have incited violence and used as an al Qaeda propaganda tool.
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES
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Obama has spoken.
The American people will NOT see a photo of the dead Osama bin Laden.
Video.
WH won't release bin Laden death photo
President Barack Obama has decided not to release death photos of terrorist Osama bin Laden, he said in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes," amid concerns that the gruesome image could prove inflammatory.
Obama's decision was reported on the CBS News Web site Wednesday after the president sat for an interview with the news magazine program.
Releasing graphic images of bin Laden's corpse after his shooting in a U.S. raid on his compound could have dispelled doubts that bin Laden is indeed dead. The worry, though, was that it would feed anti-U.S. sentiment.
More, from CBS News:
In an interview with Steve Kroft for this Sunday's "60 Minutes," President Obama says he won't release post-mortem images of Osama bin Laden taken to prove his death.
...Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said Wednesday that the Obama administration should not release the gruesome post-mortem images, saying it could complicate the job for American troops overseas. Rogers told CBS News he has seen a post-mortem photo.
"The risks of release outweigh the benefits," he said. "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," he continued. "Osama bin Laden is not a trophy - he is dead and let's now focus on continuing the fight until Al Qaida has been eliminated."
What's Obama talking about?
We saw images of our troops being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. We don't have to imagine what it would be like.
What's with these Leftists?
They whined about not having images of the flag-draped coffins of our war dead.
They obsessed over body counts.
They insist on publishing all the gruesome details and images they can when it serves their purposes.
They couldn't get enough of the Abu Ghraib photos. They lusted for more.
The military be damned. The Leftists don't care.
Recently, TIME magazine put an extremely graphic photo of a young Afghan woman disfigured at the hand of her husband on its cover.
To view a larger image of the cover, click here.
Richard Stengel, TIME's Managing Editor, gives justification for publishing the cover photo:
Our cover image this week is powerful, shocking and disturbing. It is a portrait of Aisha, a shy 18-year-old Afghan woman who was sentenced by a Taliban commander to have her nose and ears cut off for fleeing her abusive in-laws. Aisha posed for the picture and says she wants the world to see the effect a Taliban resurgence would have on the women of Afghanistan, many of whom have flourished in the past few years. Her picture is accompanied by a powerful story by our own Aryn Baker on how Afghan women have embraced the freedoms that have come from the defeat of the Taliban — and how they fear a Taliban revival.
I thought long and hard about whether to put this image on the cover of TIME. First, I wanted to make sure of Aisha's safety and that she understood what it would mean to be on the cover. She knows that she will become a symbol of the price Afghan women have had to pay for the repressive ideology of the Taliban. We also confirmed that she is in a secret location protected by armed guards and sponsored by the NGO Women for Afghan Women. Aisha will head to the U.S. for reconstructive surgery sponsored by the Grossman Burn Foundation, a humanitarian organization in California. We are supporting that effort.
I'm acutely aware that this image will be seen by children, who will undoubtedly find it distressing. We have consulted with a number of child psychologists about its potential impact. Some think children are so used to seeing violence in the media that the image will have little effect, but others believe that children will find it very scary and distressing — that they will see it, as Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston, said, as "a symbol of bad things that can happen to people." I showed it to my two young sons, 9 and 12, who both immediately felt sorry for Aisha and asked why anyone would have done such harm to her. I apologize to readers who find the image too strong, and I invite you to comment on the image's impact.
Without question, the Leftists are willing to use gruesome images.
On the other hand, these same people freak out over the images of an aborted baby. They demand that such photos never be shown. They refuse to allow people to see the reality of abortion, the dismembered, tiny bodies. No, we can't see those either.
It's all political.
I think a photo should be released. Give people the choice whether to view it or not.
I want to see a photo of bin Laden dead.
Give the American people, and history, something to go with these images:
Too gruesome?
Too inflammatory?
This from Obama, the man who undermined George W. Bush and his administration at every turn, showing no concern for how it would impact the American troops on the battlefield. This from Obama and his Democrat comrades, wanting to slash funding for our military.
Give me a break!
Obama's assertion of this notion that conspiracy theorists will just say a photo is doctored anyway is a ridiculous excuse.
Conspiracy nuts will never EVER be satisfied.
Moreover, all the fake images of the dead bin Laden floating around right now can just as easily be used as recruiting tools for terrorists and to inflame the Muslim world.
It's not as if withholding an image will prevent a backlash against the U.S., if there's going to be one.
Obama went on national TV and declared that a U.S. military operation KILLED bin Laden. I think the news of bin Laden's death is enough to inflame.
The argument that nothing good can come from releasing the photo is offset by the fact that nothing will change if it is released.
The slaughter of innocents on 9/11 and all the previous acts of war against the U.S. preceded bin Laden's death. No photo of a dead al Qaeda leader prompted these attacks.
Hopefully, Obama has the facts wrong about the photo, too. Hopefully, the White House will realize it's a mistake to fail to release a death photo of bin Laden.
Maybe this whole thing is just a dance to make it appear that Obama was forced to release a photo, even though he really didn't want to do it.
Someone will leak it and then Obama won't have to bear responsibility for making the decision to show the world.
The allegedly gutsy Obama should show some guts.
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