"It is not in our national security interest ... to allow these images to become icons to rally opinion against the United States," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at the time. "We have no need to publish those photographs to establish that Osama bin Laden was killed."
I'm not really sure about how I feel about seeing the photos of Bin Laden. I'm sure that they would not shock or offend me. I'm also sure that anything that they showed me could be fake. But, something deep inside me just wants to see them. I must not be the only one. Obama must have wanted to see them, but he's much more important than a plain ordinary American citizen. More important than a cop, or a firefighter or a priest Or any of the people that died on 9-11 at the direction of Bin Laden.
How do you feel about it. Do we as American citizens deserve the respect of being allowed to see our enemy? As Americans we have the right to meet our accussers in a court of law. Is this Different?
Explain to me how you feel. I'm sincerely curious. I added a poll above so you can vote on it.
The final results were:
Should Osama Bin Laden death photos be made available to the public?
53 for--No, no one should see them. It might offend.
32 for--Yes, Americans have the right to see the man that declared war on them.
23 for--Only the President and important politician should see them
I took your first choice, but it's not so much that they might offend as they might get US soldiers and perhaps others killed.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, if the accuser is dead, we don't necessarily have the right to meet him/her.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking along the lines of offending his people and causing them to want to retaliate. But, I think that is already a given.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that they are going to say "At first I was angry, but they didn't show his pictures so I decided to let it go, but now that they are showing his picture I'm going to kill them".
Maybe I'm wrong, I can't get into the heads of Osama's people.
"Geronimo: A century after his death, mysteriously tied to Bin Laden, the CIA and Skull and Bones
ReplyDeleteMay 3, 2011Print Version Source: LA Times
Geronimo was an Apache leader in the 19th century. More than 100 years after his death the Native American warrior's name is back in the news when it was revealed that "Geronimo" was the code name used for Osama Bin Laden while the U.S. special forces plotted to kill him.
Born in what would later become New Mexico in 1829, Geronimo spent many years successfully fighting Mexican and U.S. armies until 1886. when he and 35 warriors surrendered to Gen. Nelson Miles near the Arizona-New Mexico border.
Geronimo was sent to an Army outpost at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, where he eventually died of pneumonia in 1909.
In 1918, according to legend, members of the secret Skull and Bones club at Yale (including, allegedly, former President George W. Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush) dug up Geronimo's grave when a group of Army volunteers from Ivy League school was stationed at Fort Sill during World War I. The grave robbers took Geronimo's skull and some of his bones."
being a harvard grad, obama buried bin laden at sea to make it harder for bush and the cia to recover his skull and bones to put in their trophy case at yale. i think he did this just to piss bush off. just like he made a fool of the donald last week by implying that he believed we faked the moon walk, he's put bush and the republicans in the position of saying that we faked bin laden's death by not publishing the photos.
One has to only look on the internet for death photographs of the various Public Enemy Number Ones throughout history: John Dillinger, Al Capone, Bonnie & Clyde etc. not to mention Eddie Adams' Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of the execution of a Vietnamese officer in the street. We've seen John Kennedy's brains splattered over & over & over again as well as pictures of piles of dead bodies in concentration camps & in Guyana at Jonestown. I'd bet money that the crime photos of Jack the Ripper's victims are more gruesome than the photographs of dead bin Laden. We've also seen live action videos of a beheading or two of Americans on television courtesy of Osama bin Laden & watched jet loads of people go to their firey deaths on 9/11. We're already offended... so much so that we're now constantly on defense. If the president were worried about offending bin Laden's family, then he wouldn't have dumped the body at sea & if he were worried about inflaming bin Laden's people then he would have called off the hunt for the sonofabitch as soon as he took office. Grow a backbone, Mr. President. Get your story straight & show YOUR people the pictures!
ReplyDeleteI think Americans should be able to see the pictures if only so they're exposed to what their money does. We shouldn't be able to sit in this country all nice and comfy while we blow up people across the globe.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I don't know the pictures should be released from the White House, per se. Perhaps a strategically done leak to some other party would go over better.
BTW; Assuming we have a death penalty, I also support public executions in this country for the same reason.
The pictures will show up when obama thinks he won't win his second term. Why didn't we kill. Sir-Han Sir-Han?
ReplyDeleteNo.
ReplyDeleteNicely put Robin.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why they used the name "Geronimo". He was a nice guy compared to Osama.
Fred
The problem with public executions is that the wrong people would be viewing them for the wrong reasons. Maybe if mandatory viewing was enforced they may become a deterrent to crime.
c2c..Sirhan was not executed because the death penalty was not legal in CA at that time.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with public executions is that the wrong people would be viewing them for the wrong reasons.
ReplyDeleteMaybe so. I still don't think people should be able to kill someone, which is essentially what they're doing when they support [the death penalty, for instance] or pay taxes.
The shouldn't be able to support something like that and then wash their hands of the whole affair, at least in their minds, by not having to see what they're responsible for.
Ernie...Geronimo hid out in the hills and eluded the Gov. For Ten years,get the simularities.
ReplyDeleteChochise: In Federal crimes it Doesn't seem (an eye for an eye) prevales. Two horrible crimes two different out comes! Sirhan is in fed. Prison in KY. Not ca state prison?
Ernie.....Look up why The spanish started using the name Geronimo.
Cochise & C2C: Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to die in the gas chamber by a CA court but that was overturned a few years later when CA ruled that the death penalty is against its Constitution. That ruling was deemed retroactive & all death sentences in CA were lifted at that time. According to the Internet, SS in in the Pleasant Valley Prison at Coalinga, CA.
ReplyDelete...is in...
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Internet, SS in in the Pleasant Valley Prison at Coalinga, CA.
ReplyDeleteI was under the impression he was in a California prison, too. I remember watching one of his parole hearings on Court TV some years ago.
He was most recently up for parole this past March. He was originally sentenced to death over the Kennedy family's objection who said they didn't want "anymore killing". Parole has been denied 14or 15 times.
ReplyDeleteRobin......The provisions in sirhan's sentence say no book, no movie. Recently a Ghost author visited sirhan at the medical prison in Lexington KY to try and get a story in the third person granted by sirhan. His answer was no. Sirhan was very ill at the time. The author pressured him to talk about a conspiracy. Sirhan said he had been questioned about the subject over the years, but was never discussing his motives to anyone. I don't care what the internet says, He's not in coalinga! As for real pictures of osama bin laden, and any computer savvy kid can photo shop those pictures.Give me a break!
ReplyDeleteIf bin laden is alive(not saying he is) he would be at a federal prison at Diego Garcia that's outside the US.
ReplyDeleteOsama's death will be the next conspiracy theory.
ReplyDeleteAs two crows pointed out, death photo's can be faked. The D.N.A. could have been gotten anywhere. Osama could be alive and being held anywhere. The Quick burial at sea could be disinformation.
No one, including myself will ever truly believe the story. The government will tell us lies when the truth would serve better. Just look at history.
The only thing that I feel comfortable in believing for sure is that there was a major change in Bin Laden's status.
Maybe he is living in the San Francisco Presidio with Gorbachev.
ReplyDeletec2c...don't know where you're getting your info. It wasn't a federal crime.
ReplyDeleteSirhan currently resides at the state pen at Pleasanton CA.
Tonto think Carlie Two Crows speak with forked tongue.
ReplyDeleteCochise has it almost right. Sirhan Sirhan is held in isolation at Pleasant Valley State prison Coalinga California.
ReplyDeleteHell Ernie there's people out there who think Elvis is alive that Bush blew up the twin towers and the Government is secretly gassing us with chemical laced contrails. Had a well known local gal tell me she had a special little knife that she could use to remove those chips the aliens were inserting into the back our necks while we slept. Osama being alive will have to stand in line behind some really dumb stuff.
ReplyDeleteI expect the Osama sightings to begin any day now, Dave. I also expect to hear that we performed some sort of surgery on him to shorten his legs or torso so he won't stand out in a crowd. There will, undoubtedly, be pictures.
ReplyDeleteJim Jones is alive & well in Russia!