Well, guess Leon Panetta was wrong: yesterday, there was chatter that the release of photos of a deceased Osama bin Laden was imminent, and CIA director Panetta added to it when he said, "I don't think there was any question that ultimately a photograph would be presented to the public." However, President Obama announced today that he has decided not to release photos of bin Laden's body. "That's not who we are. We don't trot this stuff out as trophies. We don't need to spike the football," he said during a 60 Minutes interview.
Officials reportedly have three sets of photos of bin Laden, who was shot in the chest, and killed by a shot above his left eye which blew away part of his skull. But they ultimately felt it would be inappropriate to release what they describe as "gruesome" photographs. One NYPost reader felt differently: "I lived through the horrors of 9/11/01 -- seeing, hearing, smelling the most godawful things. Memories I never asked for and can never erase. I can handle this, and I want to see this," wrote Leslie Feffer. But they do still have plenty of viral Obama photos to peruse.
While some Americans may be mad about not seeing bin Laden's corpse, many Muslims are told the News they were still upset about the manner in which he was "buried." "[Bin Laden] was a very bad man. I do not like the things he did. I do not believe in the things he said. It is better that he is gone, [but] the body belongs to God. We have to bury it," said Mohamed Zohny, owner of Islamic Fashion in Brooklyn.
