Since the announcement of Osama bin Laden’s death two days ago, the White House has been contemplating whether or not to release pictures of the mass murderer’s body or video of his burial. As if President Barack Obama does not have enough to worry about – potential counterterrorism attacks, ensuring a stable relationship with the Pakistani government, reconfiguring military plans – he now has to decide if he wants to give Americans and the rest of the world further vindication for the Sept. 11 attacks.
Though White House spokesman Jay Carney and other officials have said releasing images of bin Laden could incite violence and anger, some members of Congress have urged the president to give the pictures to the media. “Not only did he kill Americans and jeopardize the lives of Americans, but Muslims as well,” said Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.), one of only two Muslims in Congress. “I think that publishing this photo – the administration has a right.” But Carson’s statement cites bin Laden’s heinous acts as the only justification for the release of said photograph(s), an illogical reason to initiate another media frenzy.
Clearly, there would be no purpose for releasing photos and videos of bin Laden except to please the general public. When footage leaked on the Internet of Saddam Hussein’s 2006 execution, footage that many Americans called for in a similar fit of misguided patriotism, people were shocked by its gruesome, barbaric content. Though Hussein incited a mass genocide against the Kurdish people and commandeered a number of other crimes against humanity, it was unsettling to know that thousands of people glued to their eyes to the death scene, breathing in every second of his demise.
It will be no different if the White House succumbs to global curiosity in bin Laden’s case – and if it is different, it will only be worse. The remaining members of Al Qaeda do not need a rallying point. Releasing a bloody photograph of the Sept. 11 mastermind, one that is undoubtedly explicitly bloody, will only motivate terrorist coalitions to strike back against America and its vainglorious attitude. Releasing footage of bin Laden’s funeral will go one step further: it will make him a martyr in some communities. Considering the fragile state of United States-Middle Eastern relations, Obama and the White House would be wise to settle with the simple fact that they caught the elusive thug.
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