Bin Laden won't walk on this earth again – Obama [May 05 2011]

President Barack Obama on Wednesday decided against releasing grisly photos of Osama bin Laden’s body, saying, ‘We don’t need to spike the football’ in triumph.Obama made the decision not to release the photos because of concern about a potential backlash that results in attacks against Americans, an official told ABC News.  

“It’s fair to say it is a gruesome photograph,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.  

Some show bin Laden dead with a gaping gunshot wound in his forehead. Other photos show the al Qaeda kingpin lying in his compound, at a U.S. base in Afghanistan, as well as on the deck of the U.S. aircraft carrier Carl Vinson where he was dropped into the Arabian Sea wrapped in a white sheet and weighted bag.  

According to ABC News, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton advised the president about concerns at the Pentagon and State Department that releasing a photograph could prompt a backlash against the U.S. for killing bin Laden where one does not seem to currently exist.  

The feeling at the White House is that there are few people, even in the Muslim world, who believe that bin Laden is still alive, and releasing the photo could do more harm than good.  

“The only skeptics to bin Laden’s death are extremists, and they wouldn’t be convinced by a photograph. So the president has to weigh the potential negatives. And there’s a tremendous risk of the photo becoming a rallying cry for attacks against U.S. soldiers, government personnel, and Americans in general,” one U.S. official said.  

However some members of Congress, including California Sen. Barbara Boxer, weren’t convinced the image should be kept private.  

“I think at the end of the day to release a photo that clearly shows who it is, is probably the right way to go,” said Boxer.  

“The photos have to be released to make sure we get rid of any conspiracy theorists that think we didn’t take care of bin Laden,” said Republican Representative Joe Heck.  

CIA Director Leon Panetta had been lobbying publicly for the photo’s release.   ABC News reported that at a briefing on Wednesday, Carney read a transcript of an interview with President Obama on CBS News’ 60 Minutes about seeing the photos of a deceased bin Laden.  

Question: Did you see the pictures?

Obama: Yes.

Question: What was your reaction when you saw them?

Obama:: It was him.

Question: Why didn’t you release them?

Obama: It is 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. That’s not who we are. We don’t trot out this stuff as trophies. I think Americans and people around the world are glad that he is gone.

Question: There are people in Pakistan for example, who say, ‘look, this is all a lie. Obama, this is another American trick. Osama is not dead.’

Obama: There is no doubt that Osama bin Laden is dead. And so we don’t think that a photograph in and of itself is going to make any difference. There are going to be some folks who deny it. The fact of the matter is, you will not seen bin Laden walking on this Earth again.