President Barack Obama has decided not to release death photos of terrorist Osama bin Laden, he said in an interview with CBS televison’s “60 Minutes,” amid concerns that the gruesome image could prove inflammatory.
Mr. Obama’s decision was reported on the CBS News Web site on Wednesday after the President sat for an interview with the news magazine programme.
Releasing graphic images of bin Laden’s corpse after his shooting in a U.S. raid on his compound in Pakistan could have dispelled doubts that bin Laden is indeed dead. The worry, though, was that it would feed anti-U.S. sentiment.
The President made his decision as the Navy SEALS involved in the daring raid arrived in the U.S. for debriefing, and U.S. officials began to comb through the intelligence trove of computer files, flash drives, DVDs and documents that the commandos hauled out of the terrorist’s hideaway.
