Yesterday, President Obama was interviewed for a segment on the death of Osama bin Laden that will appear on 60 Minutes this Sunday. Portions of that interview have already been released, and one thing has been made clear: the president has no intention of releasing the photos of bin Laden's corpse to the American public. To that I only have one thing to say: wrong decision, Mr. President.
I'm sure that Obama will outline the reasons for his decision when the entire interview is aired Sunday evening. But in the meantime, allow me to outline my reasons why the photos should be released.
First of all, America needs to make a statement to the rest of the world that you can't attack us on our soil, claim thousands of innocent lives, and get away with it. The fact that we've been unable to get bin Laden all these years has always been perceived by our enemies as a sign of weakness. Behind our backs, if not to our faces, they've laughed at us for failing in our attempts to bring him to justice.
Now that we've managed to accomplish the task, it's imperative that we let the world know that you can't outrun us, you can't hide from us, and you can't escape justice for the transgressions you carry out against our people. Sooner or later, we're going to get you. Our enemies need to be reminded of that, and what better way to remind them than with a picture of our most wanted terrorist lying in a pool of his own blood with a bullethole in his head.
It is well-known that in the Muslim world, conspiracy theories run amok. Most Muslims will refuse to believe that bin Laden is dead until they see the proof. Yesterday on Hannity, Anne Coulter made an excellent point on how Obama's strategy for dealing with the Muslim problem is completely backwards. Muslims don't respond to hyper-sensitivity; they respond to strength. If we want to win their respect, then we need to show them that we got our man, not hide the photos for fear that we might offend them.
Aside from sending a clear message to the rest of the world, there are other reasons, rooted in both logic and emotion, for publicizing the pictures. First, the whole rationale of sending in the Navy SEALS to carry out the mission was rooted in proof of death. We could have bombed the compound where bin Laden was hiding. We could have sent a drone to finish the job. But Obama chose to go with the SEALS. Why? Very simply, because he wanted to know for sure that we got him.
For the record, I agree with that. I think the president made the right decision here, and I would have done exactly the same thing. But here's where things begin to become incomprehensible. We sent in our elite forces, they got the job done, and they obtained proof of bin Laden's death. And now, we're not showing it to the public? Can someone please explain this to me? If you're not going to use the proof you so badly wanted in the first place, then why put the lives of those forty Navy SEALS at risk? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Finally, the photos should be released because we as Americans are ENTITLED to see them. It's not very often that I use the word "entitled," but in this case it is both appropriate and necessary. As taxpayers, we have been funding the war on terror for a decade. We paid for our government to carry out this operation. If our money was spent to carry out this task, how then can anyone justify not showing us the results?
If that is not enough, then know that we have paid an even heftier price in the war on terror. The events of 9/11/01 and the way they have forever changed our way of life have taken an emotional and psychological toll on us that can never be adequately measured. We didn't just pay the price financially. We paid the price in many other ways that were far more expensive. For that, we are more than justified in demanding that we get to see the final product.
I hope the president changes his mind, but I'm certainly not going to hold my breath. I've come to accept that the only way we're going to have the opportunity to see the photos is if he is defeated in the 2012 election. As far as I'm concerned, that just gives me another reason to vote Republican.
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