超级女巡按国语电视剧:No Photo: Why Obama Won’t Release Osama bin Laden Death Image

President Obama has told CBS Newsthat he’s decided against making public a graphic image of Osama binLaden’s corpse. The news comes amid rampant speculation over the releaseof the image, fueled in part by comments from CIA Director Leon Panettaon Tuesday that suggested its release was inevitable.

After Matt Drudge erroneously reported that the release of the photowas imminent, the White House pushed back hard, denying that anydecision had been made. “There is no update on the decision to releasethe photos,” e-mailed spokesman Tommy Vietor. “I have no idea what theDrudge thing is based on.”

Panetta then told NBC News that the photo was bound to come outeventually. “The government obviously has been talking about how best todo this, but I don’t think there’s — there was any question thatultimately a photograph would be presented to the public,” he said. “Thebottom line is that, you know, we got bin Laden, and I think we have toreveal to the rest of the world the fact that we were able to get himand kill him.”

A desire for catharsis, or perhaps just gruesome curiosity, has further stirred the photo frenzy. But in an interview with 60 Minutesthat was recorded on Wednesday, Obama said the image was not going tobe released. White House press secretary Jay Carney, who shared Obama’scomments at Wednesday’s press briefing, told reporters that the decisionhad not been finalized until the morning of the interview.

According to Carney, Obama reasoned that the photo might cause“incitement to additional violence” or become fodder for martyrdom amongthose already outraged by bin Laden’s death. But Obama also made thecase that, if released, the image would be an unnecessary war trophythat changes neither the implications of bin Laden’s death nor thewidespread conspiracy theories about the conditions under which it tookplace. “We don’t trot out this stuff as trophies,” Obama said. “Thereare going to be some folks who deny it. The fact of the matter is, youwill not see bin Laden walking on this earth again.”

Not releasing the image will surely agitate conspiracy mongers liketalk-radio hyperventilator Alex Jones, but evidence, photographic orotherwise, has never been much of an obstacle for Jones’black-helicopter fantasies. “Conspiracy theorists around the world willjust claim the photos are doctored anyway, and there is a real risk thatreleasing the photos will only serve to inflame public opinion in theMiddle East,” Republican House Intelligence Committee chairman MikeRogers said on Wednesday.

A number of members of Congress have seen the photo and made theirarguments for or against its release. But Obama’s decision not to makeit public — and his explanation — is the only one that really counts. Ofcourse, his decision won’t stop the flood of Freedom of Information Actrequests and legal challenges to the photo’s classified status that arelikely to inundate the White House in the coming weeks and months. Forcatharsis or curiosity, the desire to know is unlikely to abate after asingle 60 Minutes interview.