White House debates releasing photographs of bin Laden's body
White House debates releasing photographs of bin Laden's body
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The argument for releasing them: to ensure that the public knows and can appreciate that he's dead. There is of course skepticism throughout the world that the US government claim that it killed bin Laden is true.
The argument against releasing the pictures: they're gruesome. He has a massive head wound above his left eye where he took the bullet, with brains and blood visible.
In July 2003, the US government released photographs of Saddam Hussein's dead sons Uday and Qusay Hussain but not until after they'd been touched up by a mortician, making them look not quite real. Meanwhile, a senior US official said DNA tests confirmed that Osama was dead. The official confirmed that a DNA match had been established with bin Laden's body before it was buried at sea after the raid.
Scholars question sea burial
Muslim clerics said Osama bin Laden's burial at sea was a violation of Islamic tradition that may further provoke militant calls for revenge attacks against American targets. Although there appears to be some room for debate over the burialu00a0-- as with many issues within the faithu00a0-- a wide range of Islamic scholars interpreted it as a humiliating disregard for the standard Muslim practice of placing the body in a grave with the head pointed toward the holy city of Mecca.
Sea burials can be allowed, they said, but only in special cases where the death occurred aboard a ship.
A US official said that the burial decision was made after concluding that it would have been difficult to find a country willing to accept the remains. There also was speculation about worry that a grave site could have become a rallying point for militants. Obama said the remains had been handled in accordance with Islamic custom, which requires speedy burial.
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