Its a diplomatic gesture, a bit of sincere hypocrisy. We know the pictures will get out, everybody pretty much knows that. But then it will take the passive tense, it “got out”, it wasn’t “released”. It most likely won’t be worth all that much, but at a cost of zero, its a pretty good bet.
There are some bad people hoping to trumpet the narrative of Obama gloating over the death of a martyr. Any gesture that may limit their ammunition is a good idea.
I’d like to see Americans who doubts OBL is dead go up and tell one of the Seals that killed him that he is lying. It would make the Neil Armstrong smack down of the moon landing denier look like a love tap.
While I personally like and agree with the picture you paint SEAL guys wouldn’t do that. They certainly could do it and it’d be satisfying to see but movie depictions of them generally get it wrong. They do not look like Rambo, they do not act like Rambo. You could be sitting next to one and probably would not guess you were sitting next to one of the deadliest people on the planet.
Make no mistake, they are serious badasses and not to be messed with and the guys who pulled this off are the best of the best (no American casualties says a lot). Unlike Armstrong though they’d probably walk away (that said kudos to Armstrong too…I like that story).
Your second point may be a good one, although I haven’t heard any clamoring for the pics from any actual victims families of the 9/11 attacks. In any case they can wait a little while longer.
The first point is irrelevent. There’s no need to quell conspiracy theorists because who cares what they think? They are not rational.
That’s not particularly cathartic to the families however.
I wish I could remember who said this for proper attribution (and I gave it a quick Google but no joy):
“You can not reason someone out of a position they did not reason themselves into.”
The Dems have wasted too much energy answering to Trump and Palin already. Fuck them. I don’t think the pictures would be too horrible to see. But they might spawn some retribution from a few followers.
But as far as the rightys are concerned, quit humoring them. Nothing will shut them up anyway.
I do too, but it was Buzz Aldrin.
The families want to see the pictures. Bin Laden bought and paid for his final 15 minutes of fame and his supporters should see the face of defeat.
The teensiest bit misleading there, big guy. You say “the families” as although there were a clear unanimity of opinion amongst “the families”. Your citation does not support that, indeed, explicitly indicates two different viewpoints on that question by quoted family members.
I rather suspect that the two groups in play here are, “people who will never be convinced that ObL is dead,” and “people who are able to logically analyze a situation, compare it to government statements, and arrive at a reasonably high level of certainty of the truth-value of said statements.” Anyone who isn’t in the latter group already, isn’t likely to be converted by some photos.
Which is to say, I don’t think there is a significant number of doubters who could reasonably be considered to be “middle of the road.”
It’s OK that the world gets to see JFK’s pictures but somehow this weasel-fuck gets a pass? Whether you like it or not, victimsof 9/11 as well as many other Americans want closure in the form of pictures.
I agree with Panetta, show the pictures.
I’m not an Obama supporter in any way. In fact I’m mostly a detractor. But I don’t for a microsecond think that him not wanting to release the photos implies any kind of a ‘moon-hoax’ level conspiracy. That’s just ridiculous.
Considering how pathetically superstitious muslims are I think his decision is the right one. But they are going to come out. Instead of being ‘officially released’ they’re going to be ‘unofficially leaked’. Fairly soon. This way the naysayers are quiesced and the nutballs are somewhat dodged because America maintains a level of deniability (not in his assassination, just in gloating about).
Problem solved.
Good god - there might be hope for the Republicans yet:
That, in my mind, is the strongest case there is to be made. Imagine if it was one of our troops being paraded around.
To be honest, the chanting and dancing crowds after news of his death made me cringe, it was just creepy. To paraphrase a recent popular saying: I’ve never rejoiced at a person’s death, but I’ve read many an obituary with great satisfaction. The measure of a country is how it treats and respects in death those that showed no such respect for others in life.
No, they probably shouldn’t, but the way they’ve been bungling the PR over this is guaranteed to stoke conspiracy theories. The White House press room under Obama has always been amateur-ville, but holy cow are they making a mess of this.
First they say they’ll release the photos. Then they say they’re thinking about it. Then Panetta says they will. Then the White House says they won’t. In the meantime, bin Laden had a gun. No, he didn’t have a gun. He shot back. No, he didn’t. A woman was killed because she was being used as a human shield. Actually, no she wasn’t. Bin Laden’s wife was killed. No, she was just wounded. There was a big firefight. No, there wasn’t. Bin Laden was in a million-dollar mansion. Actually, it was just a house.
Finally Jay Carney was reduced to saying, “Hey, fog of war, man.” Come ON. This wasn’t a battlefield. It was a tactical operation that was pretty clear cut. Time was taken to collect documentary evidence.
The White House should only have released the details after they were gathered, vetted, and verified. Then they should have been released as a package. Reporters should have been taken to observe the photos and DNA evidence off-camera so they could report what they saw.
Instead, it looks like a whole bunch of functionaries started yapping to the press about what they thought they knew long before the official description and evidence package was ready.
The White House releases a photo depicting the situation room with everyone watching the raid as it happened. Now Panetta says there was actually a 25 minute video blackout during the raid itself and nothing was seen.
There’s nothing really wrong about any of this, other than that the message control sucks and the way the information came out made it look like people were changing their stories. So now the conspiracy nutters are going to go bananas.
Why is it all about a relative few CTs? I’ll bet that of those who want photos released the majority just want to see the piece of shit with a big hole in his head and don’t much care about Muslim sensibilities.
Where were the MSrs when the Abu Graib pics were being released? Hey, maybe they were doctored…how come nobody thought of that
I agree with much of your factual analysis, while disagreeing completely with the inferences you have drawn. I think the White House’s handling has been excellent. Who is criticising them for this:
there are Republican’s queueing up to criticise every aspect of the situation. Tough. Everyone knows that they will do that regardless of what Mr Obama does or does not do on this or any other issue. If you are a sane Republican who is frustrated that this means you cannot engage in constructive criticism of your President then blame the insane Republicans who put you in this situation.
there are moslems complaining that the burial was not sufficiently Islamic. Tough, he was a mass murderer and that has consequences. Everyone knows that these moslems will criticise America regardless of what Mr Obama does or does not do on this or any other issue. If you are a sane moslem who is frustrated that this means you cannot engage in constructive criticism of the West then blame the insane moslems who put you in this situation.
there are conspiracy theorists who complain that they don’t have all the facts and need more proof. Tough. Everyone knows that they will do that regardless of what Mr Obama does or does not do on this or any other issue. If you consider yourself a sane conspiracy theorist then you are mistaken. Sorry.
there are moslems complaining that they don’t have all the facts and need more proof. Tough. We are delighted that you are pretending to cling to the fantasy that OBL is still leading a glamorous life of heroic resistance touring guerilla camps and directing operations, rather than someone who has been skulking in his bedroom scared to step outside for the last several years. We know and you know and we know that you know that he is dead and gone.
All of this criticism strenthens Mr Obama. He looks presidential. All of his critics look fools. This is deliberate.
Enjoy.
You said it for me. I agree with you!
I’m a republican, but I’m proud of the way our President is handling this by not showing the photo.
As other have pointed out, if the CTers don’t believe he is dead, what is a photo going to do? There is already “a photo” on the internet that was up within hours of the assault. You don’t think the government could do one just as good if it was faked? And that’s what the CTers will say - count on it.
As has been posted numerous times, if OBL was alive, he’d be on video with today’s copy of the New York Times laughing his ass off. That hasn’t and isn’t going to happen. And that’s the best evidence we have that he’s dead (or captured and soon to be dead).
Why don’t I want the picture out? Not due to security. As a military member, I feel that day-to-day the terrorists want to do us a much harm as they can. And I don’t think that a photo of OBL dead is going to give them much more incentive than they have now.
I’d just like to believe that we are better than that. And I’m glad the boss thinks so too.