WHITE HOUSE RELEASES BIN LADEN DEATH PHOTO

[AntZ]

WHITE HOUSE RELEASES BIN LADEN DEATH PHOTO

Tue May 03 2011 10:22:50 ET


President Obama has decided to release at least one photo showing Osama Bin Laden's death.

The images, being described as 'graphic', are bound to stir emotions in the east and the west, and will likely become the most viewed photographs in modern history.

One image shows a bullet wound to his head above his left eye.

Will it remove all doubt about the death?

Developing...

[Arkady Renko]

well, where ARE the damn pictures?

[Muddy]

:worthless:

[lost in melb.]

[-(

[Teh One Who Knocks]

False advertising :x

Countdown to trash in 5....4.....3....

[FBD]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25TXzPuje7I

[Lambchop]

Not sure if this is a real one because it was posted on 4chan but we'll have to wait and see.

http://i52.tinypic.com/6qgw0g.jpg

Also this:

http://i51.tinypic.com/261fg9j.jpg

Edit: confirmed fake. Have seen the original version.

[Muddy]

I dont think it's real because Drudge doesn't have it yet...

[Hal-9000]

I think I've seen the 4chan one previous to his death

[redred]

the report i heard was he had one planted right between the eyes and a second in the chest to make sure so that second greenie one could be

[Muddy]

Id rather see a picture of Megan Fox' shaven wet pussy..

[redred]

Id rather see a picture of Megan Fox' shaven wet pussy..

second that :tup:

[Hal-9000]

Lance's latest report said double tap to the left side of the face.

r u dead?

no?

Now u r

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Is that green pic from that alien autopsy vid? :-k

[Hugh_Janus]

the report i heard was he had one planted right between the eyes and a second in the chest to make sure so that second greenie one could be

I'm no expert, but I'd say it would be the other way around :lol:

[Hal-9000]

I'm no expert, but I'd say it would be the other way around :lol:

:lol:



and one in the foot to make sure

[Muddy]

tap tap.. game over. insert coin to continue playing.

[FBD]

best comment I've come across so far...:razz:


When I was in the Navy there was a saying: One f*ck up wipes out a thousand atta-boys.

Obama has a thousand f*ck ups and now people expect one atta-boy to wipe those out.

It doesn’t work that way.

[Muddy]

The president has decided not to release death photos of Osama bin Laden, an administration official briefed by the White House tells CNN.

[Hugh_Janus]

The president has decided not to release death photos of Osama bin Laden, an administration official briefed by the White House tells CNN.

here come the "he's not really dead" conspiracies :roll:

[FBD]

*tosses another chip onto the pile of Obama fkups*

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The president has decided not to release death photos of Osama bin Laden, an administration official briefed by the White House tells CNN.

http://i.imgur.com/8wZm3.jpg

[Hugh_Janus]

http://i.imgur.com/8wZm3.jpg

how about me laid, obama-san?

[Muddy]

I would prefer they release the picture, and the evidence packet before some conspiracies start...

[samarchepas]

Release it or not...won't change a thing with the "conspirators"...if they did release it...they would just say it was photoshopped.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

http://i.imgur.com/8wZm3.jpg

LOL!!!! :tup:

[Muddy]

It's like blazing saddles over at the White House right now...

[Acid Trip]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/photos-show-three-dead-men-bin-laden-raid-194758961.html

Found a photo...but it's not Osama.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/04/us-binladen-pakistan-photos-idUSTRE74370620110504

Some more...

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The president has decided not to release death photos of Osama bin Laden, an administration official briefed by the White House tells CNN.

After hearing the reasons on the news tonite, I think withholding the photos is the right thing to do. The only ones that are gonna believe that he's alive are the tinfoil hat brigade. And with them, even if the photos were released, they would insist they're fakes

:tinfoil:

[Pony]

Reports are out that many of the fake photos, search results and fake videos are loaded with keylogging viruses, careful while searching guys.

[FBD]

After hearing the reasons on the news tonite, I think withholding the photos is the right thing to do. The only ones that are gonna believe that he's alive are the tinfoil hat brigade. And with them, even if the photos were released, they would insist they're fakes


So what did they say that changed your mind? I'm of the opinion that even if its barely distinguishable it should be released. This isnt some random terrorist, this O bin f'n L...the world needs to see his corpse and move on.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Do you believe he's dead? :-s

[FBD]

I believed Obama was born in the US :razz: doesnt mean I didnt need to see his birth cert!

[FBD]

hmmm....FOIA??



Barack Obama has finally decided against releasing a photo of Osama bin Laden's corpse as proof of his death. But the former chief freedom of information expert for the U.S. government tells Gawker that he may not have that choice.

Up until a few moments ago, when CBS News reported Obama's decision, the Administration had issued mixed signals on whether it intended to release graphic evidence of Osama's demise. CIA director Leon Panetta stated that he expected a photo would eventually be released, while Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton were reportedly opposed. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said yesterday that "there are sensitivities here in terms of the appropriateness of releasing photographs of Osama bin Laden in the aftermath of this firefight."

But all the agonizing may have been for naught. According to Daniel Metcalfe, the former chief of the Department of Justice's Office of Information and Privacy—a post that effectively made him the government's top expert in the Freedom of Information Act—the odds are better than even that a FOIA lawsuit seeking the photo's release would succeed.

"If someone brought a FOIA complaint seeking the photo, and the government had improperly classified it, I think the government would lose," Metcalfe, who supervised the defense of more than 500 FOIA and Privacy Act lawsuits for the U.S., told Gawker. He is now the executive director of the Collaboration on Government Secrecy at American University's Washington College of Law.

Ex-Justice Department Official: Obama Could Be Forced to Release the Osama Death PhotosUnder the FOIA, government agencies—but not the White House itself—can be compelled to turn over any document, photo, video, or other record as long as there's no statutory reason for withholding it. Obama faces two obstacles to keeping the bin Laden photos secret: 1) Since it was (presumably) taken by a Navy SEAL working on a joint mission of the CIA and Department of Defense's Joint Special Operations Command, it was originated by a federal agency subject to the FOIA and 2) There doesn't appear to be a good reason under the FOIA not to disclose it.

"As far as photos of the corpse go," said Kel McClanahan, the executive director of National Security Counselors, a law firm specializing in litigating secrecy issues, "there's nothing I can reasonably think of that would exempt that, unless someone classified them." The government could conceivably try to deny a FOIA request for the photos based on the statute's privacy exemptions, but that would put it in the awkward position of going to court to protect Osama bin Laden's surviving family members' privacy.

So classification is the best bet. Trouble is, you can't simply classify things because you don't want them released. There has to be a reason. And according to Metcalfe, it's hard to imagine a good reason to classify a simple photograph of bin Laden's corpse.

"I don't know of the basis upon which such a photo could properly be classified," Metcalfe says. "It might be classified in a gross sense—as in, 'this entire series of images in a DOD or CIA digital camera, taken during a highly classified operation, is classified.' But I can't imagine on what basis a single image of Osama bin Laden could be classified on its own." According to the executive order governing classification, information can be classified if its "disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause identifiable or describable damage to the national security" and it pertains to a list of sensitive subjects including military plans, foreign governments, or nuclear weapons. If Obama decides thinks release of the photos could inflame the Middle East, he could claim that national security is at risk. And the executive order does allow for the classification of "intelligence activities (including covert action)," which would seem to cover such a highly secretive mission.

Trouble is, federal law defines covert action as "an activity or activities of the United States Government to influence political, economic, or military conditions abroad, where it is intended that the role of the United States Government will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly" [pdf]. The role of the United States in killing Osama bin Laden is apparent and has been acknowledged publicly, and was clearly always intended to be acknowledged. It wasn't a covert action.

The FOIA only allows properly classified records to be withheld. "If it is classified, and it was classified improperly, then it is highly challengeable in court," Metcalfe says. "It's a tough row to hoe for a FOIA litigant to overcome a classification decision, but there have been cases where courts second-guessed them. It happened just last month in a D.C. District Court case involving the Office of U.S. Trade Representative. I think the odds are very high that the classification action would be rejected, despite the tremendous deference courts give on such matters."

McClanahan is less sanguine, arguing that courts would likely give Obama the benefit of the doubt in a FOIA case over the images: "Classified is classified. I can only think of a handful of cases where something is determined to be improperly classified."

The last time Obama faced a decision about whether to release potentially explosive images, it was the FOIA that forced his hand. In 2009, the Defense Department was trying to keep dozens of photographs and four videos showing detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib from being released to the ACLU under a FOIA complaint. The government argued that the photos could be withheld under an exemption for law enforcement records that could cause harm to a person if released—the harm in this case being potential riots in the middle east or anticipated retaliation against U.S. soldiers. But the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that argument and ordered the Defense Department to hand them over. Before the Supreme Court could address the issue, Congress passed a special law barring their disclosure. But that law was tailored specifically to the Abu Ghraib photos, and so wouldn't cover Osama. And since there was no law enforcement element to the raid, the government's failed argument in that case couldn't be raised here to see if the Supreme Court will accept it.

Ex-Justice Department Official: Obama Could Be Forced to Release the Osama Death PhotosOne way to avoid the FOIA, Metcalfe says, is to make sure that Obama, or the White House, are the only people who have the images. "The White House has some really smart lawyers," he says, "and I suspect they've already considered that the decision to classify such a photo is one that would invite justifiable criticism. I think they'd be better off trying to find a non-classification ground for nondisclosure, such as ‘it's no longer an agency record.' It's far better for the White House to treat this photo as sui generis, and even though it was once in Defense Department or CIA hands, for it to simply leave the executive branch and enter the inner White House, where the FOIA does not apply. So if this photo is sitting on Obama's desk and there's no other copy, Defense can say to any FOIA requester, 'We used to have that, but the president has it now and good luck trying to get it.'"

Indeed, Carney seemed to hint at that strategy at yesterday's White House press briefing. Asked if he had seen the photos, he declined to answer, adding unbidden that he wouldn't discuss their location either: "I'm not going to get into who's seen the photographs, or where they are."

The trouble with that route is that digital images are sticky. If the photos were delivered digitally from Pakistan or Afghanistan to Langley, Va. and Washington, D.C., there could be any number of government servers or devices that retained copies. It would take a coordinated—and possibly illegal—effort to destroy every digital trace of such images at the Department of Defense and CIA. If any such traces remain, they're FOIAble.

And it's not just death photos at stake. The White House has also confirmed that video of bin Laden's funeral exists, and there is presumably a wealth of photos of his compound and the aftermath of the raid that could potentially be releasable. Requesters could even try to get a hold of a copy of the real-time video stream that the White House was reportedly watching as the raid went down—though McClanahan said military video is more easily classified. "Video of action like that is usually classified, because someone can take apart strategies and tactics."

Of course, if someone does file a complaint under the FOIA seeking access to the images, and it starts to look like a court might force his hand, Obama could turn to Congress for another one-off law protecting the bin Laden photos. But it's unclear if the sentiment in favor keeping the Osama photos will be as unanimous as it was in the Abu Ghraib case.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I'm done here as it's obvious trying to have an actual serious talk with you is useless :thumbsup:

[FBD]

:-s :rolleyes: :wavey:

cmon lance you understand rhetoric better than that. of course I believe Osama's waxed crabmeat.

[Godfather]

After hearing the reasons on the news tonite, I think withholding the photos is the right thing to do. The only ones that are gonna believe that he's alive are the tinfoil hat brigade. And with them, even if the photos were released, they would insist they're fakes


Watching the evening news and hearing them debate I was swayed over to that side too for those same reasons

If anything, compromise and wait some time. Too many NATO troops in harms way if that hunk of the world is inflamed any more. Not worth the risk to them.

[Hal-9000]

hal's conspiracy theory - I believe they took him alive.

It seemed too pat that during an intense firefight that they shot him directly in the head/face....Unless there was a directive to absolutely remove that piece of shit no matter the cost.It's hard to say how things would have played out if they brought him in alive.That may have caused more future incidents than if they eliminated him.

I'm sure the decision to kill/bring him in alive was discussed at length long before that helicopter took off...

[MrsM]

If they took him alive - where would they keep him? Also - can you imagine the fighting and hostage taking to try to get him back.

Although - if the world thinks he's dead - no one would look for him, you could keep him anywhere :-k

[Teh One Who Knocks]

If they took him alive - where would they keep him? Also - can you imagine the fighting and hostage taking to try to get him back.

Although - if the world thinks he's dead - no one would look for him, you could keep him anywhere :-k

Yup, he could be anywhere.....but not my apartment. He's definitely not at my place.


:theyareontome:

[Hal-9000]

If they took him alive - where would they keep him? Also - can you imagine the fighting and hostage taking to try to get him back.

Although - if the world thinks he's dead - no one would look for him, you could keep him anywhere :-k

That's the part that perplexes me.There must have been discussion on the goal of the raid.

take him alive - Risk more incidents, possible attacks on the city that would be holding him

or

toast him - Prepare for the fallout from his followers, but in different ways.


I find it strange that they wouldn't release the photo.They've told the entire world he's dead and now they're worried the graphic photo will incite
bad behavior.Seems to me by not releasing the photo, it leaves the terrorist element with a feeling of - You're lying and now we need to demonstrate
that Al Qaeda is still being guided by the big cheese.(cue more attacks and deaths)

[Muddy]

*Pm's Sertes to join the lively debate*

[Hal-9000]

Sertes is over at that football player's house right now discussing how an innocent man was killed and those planes were actually drones controlled by Bush.

he's far too busy to post :lol:

[redred]

i read a piece today that said unless he was naked he would not be taken alive for fear of a suicide vest , so when he was found clothed it was good night

[PorkChopSandwiches]

some pics

http://www.reuters.com/subjects/bin-laden-compound

[Hal-9000]

Looks like the copter clipped the wall..it's a lot smaller than I imagined

[Godfather]

hal's conspiracy theory - I believe they took him alive.


Just my humble opinion of my own....

I strongly believe the given story was close to the truth.... you said it yourself that Obama said "I did this" and "I did that" a number of times. It was the second greatest moment of his political career; perhaps the greatest.

His administration simply would never risk the mammoth global and national ramifications that would come from us finding out that we were lied to about his fate. Can you imagine if we found he were still alive? Or worse again, that he were alive and still at large? At best Obama's presidency would end....



Something I always thought was timeless and interesting in poli-sci classes... An essential rule of military operations for commanders is that in any covert actions - you must expect the benefit of secrecy and silence to be lost. It is a reality you must plan for and not ever assume guaranteed. Commanders and political thinkers for centuries have stated it in one way or another. Based on that logic alone... I just don't think Obama would dare risk it, no more than I believe Bush would risk the entire stability of the country (or of course lack the integrity to) to blow up the WTC's.

Loose lips sink ships

[FBD]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3Onmy2uUNq8

[beowulf]

hal's conspiracy theory - I believe they took him alive.



if not hes in a pickle jar in area 51 ;)

to be honest, i think hes alive too..............but not for long..........only til all that useful info has been extracted

[Muddy]

Intrestink..

[Muddy]

if not hes in a pickle jar in area 51 ;)

to be honest, i think hes alive too


20% of me thinks that's a good possibility..

[redred]

i think that the witness's ie his wife and 12 year old kid who i think now have been interview from hospital by the pakistan police/goverment would of spilled the beans on OBL walking out of that place alive going by reports 1 if not both would have been in the room when he got the head shot and i don't think pakistan will be hiding any story the US would give them after all the stuff flying about between the 2 countries

[FBD]

agreed

[redred]

really ? i made a useful post in this area :lol:

[FBD]

:lol: :thumbsup:

[redred]

:woot: