Former presidential candidate Sarah Palin has criticised Barack Obama for 'pussyfooting around' over his refusal to publish the photograph of the bloodied corpse of Osama Bin Laden, taken after the raid on his hideout by U.S. special forces.
Her intervention came as the President was forced to insist that he is ‘absolutely certain’ Osama Bin Laden is dead.
His extraordinary move – a full three days after a U.S. commando shot the Al Qaeda leader in the head – came amid persistent claims of a cover-up as he refused to release the photographic proof.
Mr Obama cited ‘national security’ as the reason for his decision, adding, 'We don't need to spike the football.'
But the Republican former Governor of Alaska insisted on Twitter: 'Show photo as warning to others seeking America's destruction. No pussy-footing around, no politicking, no drama; it's part of the mission.'
And in a speech in Alabama, reported in the New York Daily News, she linked the President's refusal to show the pictures with the furore over his birth certificate.
'Don't do kind of that birth certificate whole mocking of Americans for asking for it.'
It follows fierce debate among the President's senior advisers, many of whom had pushed for him to release the gruesome final shots of the Al Qaeda leader.
It was hoped that releasing the images would also put an end to any wild conspiracy theories that Bin Laden was still alive.
But speaking yesterday, White House Spokesman Jay Carney read from an interview the President gave to CBS's 60 Minutes program.
Obama told the interviewer releasing the photos would not only jeopardise national security, but could act as a propaganda tool for militants around the world.
In the interview, Obama said: 'It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence.
'You know, we don't trot out this stuff as trophies. The fact of the matter is this was somebody who was deserving of the justice that he received.
'But we don't need to spike the football.'
Despite the announcement, within minutes graphic photographs - thought to show Bin Laden's son, a trusted courier and another aide killed in the raid - were made public.
The photographs, released by Reuters news agency, show the bloody aftermath of the raid on Bin Laden's Abbottabad compound.
They were taken about an hour after the U.S. assault and show the three dead men, believed to be courier Arshad Khan, another trusted aide and Bin Laden's son Khalid, lying in pools of blood without weapons.
The refusal by the White House to release the photos will anger members of Obama's senior advisory team who had pushed for them to be made public.
The President announced the Americans were ‘95 per cent sure’ it was Bin Laden before they shot him – and ‘absolutely certain’ afterwards, following DNA tests.
During an interview with CBS television's 60 Minutes, the President confirmed the pictures would remain secret however.
‘It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool.
‘That’s not who we are. We don’t trot this stuff out as trophies.
‘The fact of the matter is, this was somebody who was deserving of the justice that he received. And I think Americans and people around the world are glad that he has gone.
'I think that given the graphic nature of these photos it would create some national security risk.’
He claimed there was no doubt among Al Qaeda members that their leader was dead, adding: ‘So we don’t think that a photograph in and of itself is going to make any difference’.
The debate about whether to release the Bin Laden photograph came amid reports from those who have seen it that it is horrific – supposedly featuring an empty eye socket and visible brain matter through a bullet wound to the skull.
There are apparently other, less gory images of Bin Laden’s hurried burial at sea, but they are not so clearly identifiable as the world’s most wanted man.
As a result there had been ongoing argument inside the White House about whether to provide pictorial evidence that may shock millions, and still fail to silence conspiracy theorists who could continue to claim any photographs were faked.
Last night CIA director Leon Panetta said that ‘ultimately’ a photograph of Bin Laden’s corpse will be released - although the President has contradicted him today.
He said: 'I don't think there was any question that ultimately a photograph would be presented to the public.'
‘Obviously I’ve seen those photographs. We’ve analysed them and there’s no question that it’s Bin Laden.
‘I think there’s no question that there were concerns that had to be debated about the impact these photos would have.
‘But the bottom line is that we got Bin Laden and I think we have to reveal to the rest of the world the fact that we were able to get him and kill him.’
Republicans have also waded in on the decision, attacking the President for not releasing the images.
Reacting to the President's decision not to release the images, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said Obama's decision was a mistake.
She said: 'The whole purpose of sending our soldiers into the compound, rather than an aerial bombardment, was to obtain indisputable proof of Bin Laden's death.
'I know Bin Laden is dead. But the best way to protect and defend our interests overseas is to prove that fact to the rest of the world.'
The photos, taken by a Pakistani security official who entered the compound after the early morning raid on Monday, show two men dressed in traditional Pakistani garb and one in a t-shirt, with blood streaming from their ears, noses and mouths.
Based on the time-stamps on the pictures, the earliest one was dated May 2, 2:30 am, approximately an hour after the completion of the raid in which Bin Laden was killed.
Other photos, taken hours later at between 5:21 am and 6:43 am, show the outside of the trash-strewn compound and the wreckage of the helicopter abandoned by the U.S. Navy SEALs.
MailOnline has chosen to pixellate the images.
One photo shows a computer cable and what looks like a child's plastic green and orange water pistol lying under the right shoulder of one of the dead men. A large pool of blood has formed under his head.
A second, thought to be Arshad Khan, shows the man with a streak of blood running from his nose across his right cheek and a large band of blood across his chest.
A third man, believed to be 20-something Khalid bin Laden, is seen in a T-shirt lying on his back in a large pool of blood which appears to be from a head wound.
Speaking about the photographs of Osama bin Laden, White House sportsman Jay Carney said today: 'These are graphic pictures of someone who was shot in the head and it's not in our national security interests to allow these images, as in the past has been the case, to become icons to rally opinion against the U.S.
'He (Obama) held this opinion very firmly. The President never gets to make a decision that is 100 per cent obvious as those decisions never get to his desk.'
The U.S. went to 'extraordinary measures' to show respect to Bin Laden in his burial, Mr Carney said.
He added: 'There is no doubt question at all that Osama bin Laden is dead. Americans feel a great sense of closure because of that.'
'This decision (not to release the photo) applies to all visual evidence.'
Mr Carney also added that U.S. forces had gone to 'considerable' efforts to give the Al Qaeda leader an appropriate Islamic burial.
'The respect that was shown to him and his body were far greater than the respect Osama Bin Laden showed to any of the victims of 9/11.'
Sources say Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates were advising the President that its release could invigorate an Islamic backlash, particularly in the run-up to Friday prayers.
Photographs were taken of the corpse, it is understood, at the scene, at a U.S. army base in Afghanistan, and on the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier before the burial at sea.
One official shown a series of photographs of the body told reporters they looked like images from ‘a bad crime scene’, adding ‘It’s what you’d expect from somebody shot in the head with a high-calibre bullet’.
America has published ‘proof of kill’ photographs before – but provoked outrage across the Islamic world by doing so.
The pictures concerned were of Saddam Hussein’s sons Uday and Qusay, killed by U.S. soldiers in Iraq in July 2003.
In the absence of a picture to show that Bin Laden is dead, some have claimed that the raid on a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was fiction - and the world's most wanted man had not been killed.
The disclosure of images would have provided further closure to Americans nearly a decade after the September 11, 2001, attacks that he masterminded.
It could also disprove those who doubt the death of Bin Laden, who was shot in the head and chest in the fortified compound.
But critics had said such photos are distasteful and if the Obama administration releases them, they could offend Muslims and be exploited by extremists.
'What we don't want to do is to release anything that might be either misunderstood or that would cause other problems,' said President Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan, speaking on National Public Radio.
On Monday an obviously faked picture of his corpse spread round the world, giving conspiracy theorists new material to fuel their speculation.
As well as pictures of Bin Laden’s body – reportedly with a bullet hole above an eye, and another to the heart – the U.S. has video of both the raid and his burial at sea.
Earlier White House spokesman Jay Carney confirmed that the photo of Bin Laden’s corpse was ‘gruesome’ but said ‘it could be inflammatory’ if released.But the evidence so far suggests that even with a photograph of the corpse, conspiracy theories will continue.
For just as in life Bin Laden was the terrorist who launched a thousand conspiracy theories, in death, it seems, he is no different.
Within hours of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001 it was being claimed the massacre was masterminded by the CIA, or the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, and that thousands of Jews had been warned to stay off work on the day.
Others said Bin Laden was in a hospital under U.S. care when the attack took place.
Senior military officials confirmed to CNN there were three sets of pictures of Bin Laden.
The first set was taken during the raid itself, and is thought to show two dead brothers, and Bin Laden's dead teenage son.
The second, and most 'identifiable' set of pictures were taken of his mutilated body at an Afghan airbase.
These are the most troubling set of images as they show 'massive open head wounds' - but are the most clear pictures of Bin Laden's face.
The third set were taken aboard the USS Carl Vinson, and show a washed and shrouded Bin Laden being lowered into his watery grave.
Yesterday Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said: ‘This news is only coming from one side, from Obama’s office, and America has not shown any evidence or proof to support this claim.
‘On the other side, our sources close to Osama Bin Laden have not confirmed or denied the news. Therefore the Islamic Emirate consider any assertion premature.’
However, shadowy Al Qaeda spokesmen usually regarded as reliable have effectively accepted that Bin Laden is dead by vowing vengeance and continuing war on the West.
The internet is abuzz with claims that Bin Laden died long ago – perhaps of liver or kidney failure, perhaps killed in the allied assault on the Afghan Tora Bora mountains in 2001, perhaps assassinated at some other time.
The argument goes that his body was kept hidden, and his death a secret, so that America could justify the continuation of the War on Terror, along with billions in military expenditure. Only now, some suggest, has America decided it is time to announce his death, along with an elaborate cover-story.
Some were even suggesting yesterday that the news was suddenly released to divert attention from evidence-less claims that Barack Obama was not born in America, so is not lawfully president.Some Muslims yesterday disputed the U.S. claim that Bin Laden’s burial at sea was in accordance with Islamic tradition.
A U.S. government spokesman said it had been decided it would be difficult to find a country prepared to accept the body and then bury it within 24 hours of death as dictated by Islamic custom. But he said it had been instead respectfully interred in the waves of the Indian Ocean off Pakistan from the U.S. aircraft carrier the Carl Vinson.
Muslim scholars said that while sea burials have long been an occasional accepted necessity, there was no such need in this case.
The head of Egypt’s prestigious seat of Sunni Muslim learning, al-Azhar, said the sea burial ‘contradicts all the religious values and human norms’.
The SEAL team also used a facial recognition system to positively identify the body of Bin Laden.
The commander of the operation took a digital image of Bin Laden's remains and fed them back to the CIA, where a facial recognition system confirmed the identity.
Bin Laden's widow, 27-year-old Amal Al-Sadah, who was shot in the leg, also helped to identify the body.
The U.S. military said that preparations for burying the terror leader in the sea lasted an hour.
His body was washed aboard the USS Carl Vinson before being covered in a white sheet and religious remarks translated into Arabic by a native speaker were read over the corpse.
'The burial of Bin Laden's remains was done in strict conformance with Islamist precepts and practices,' said the White House counter-terrorism chief John Brennan.
Preparations for burial began at 1:10 am EST (0510 GMT) on Monday and were completed at 2am EST. His corpse was lowered toward the sea on one of the aircraft carrier's elevators.
'The body was placed in a weighted bag. A military officer read prepared religious remarks which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker,' the U.S. official said.
'After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased's body eased into the sea.'
It has emerged that Bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad, 35 miles from the capital Islamabad, was built as a giant booby-trap, with doors opening on to walls and others to 6ft drops.
Meanwhile seven people suspected of being part of Bin Laden’s support network have been arrested in the region.
As Pakistan continued to insist it had no idea the terror chief had been living there, CIA director Leon Panetta suggested Bin Laden was confident he would get a tip-off about any raid.
Yesterday, the U.S. Attorney General declared the killing was ‘appropriate’ because Bin Laden had made no attempt to surrender.
Eric Holder, the chief law officer in the U.S., told the Senate Judiciary Committee: ‘Let me make something very clear: the operation in which Osama Bin Laden was killed was lawful.
‘He was the head of Al Qaeda, an organisation that had conducted the attacks of September 11. He admitted his involvement.’
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