by Alyce Rocco

Created on: May 10, 2011   Last Updated: May 11, 2011

While I understand the reasoning behind President Obama's decision not to release images of Osama bin Laden's death, I disagree with him. Publishing the gruesome photos of bin Laden's bullet-ridden head may incite more hatred and violence towards the United States of America. True, that, but those who viewed bin Laden as a martyr and hero already hate the U.S. of A. and are not likely to become more violent than they already are. Even without publication of the Osama's death photos, there have been protests against the killing, which included burning the U.S. flag. 

Life is not all about glamor and pretty images. Death and murder are an ugly part of the world. Why hide it? Anyone who watches movies, especially war movies and murder mysteries have already been subjected to some very gruesome sights. Cartoons showing females tied to a rail heading straight to a giant saw may have seemed comic to those who created such things, but a child with active imagination could become disturbed by the sights. That is all make-believe. In real life our troops have seen some very gruesome sights. Children's bloody body parts strewn across the streets of Iraq come quickly to mind. There are worse. Those images are made available to the public, so why not the photos of a man who destroyed so many innocent lives? 

It was quite gruesome watching people jump out of the World Trade Center buildings on September 11, 2001. Former President Bush addressed that horror by leading Congress to first, invade Iraq, then Afghanistan. Patriotism was at an all-time high, with many young quickly joining the military. Many that did so lost their lives. Others came home minus limbs. They not only experienced the horrors or war first hand, they were disfigured for life by it. Those who gave of their time deserve to see death photos of the man responsible for lives disrupted by his actions.

Just a week prior to the killing of bin Laden, President Obama was forced to make public a private document, his birth certificate. That anyone doubts his country of birth means people still doubt him. By not releasing the photos of bin Laden, President Obama adds fuel to the conspiracy believers fires. Any Internet article or opinion piece regarding the death of bin Laden has comments from citizens claiming that the coup is a hoax; that bin Laden died several years ago; that President Obama created this as a re-election ploy. How simple to silence the doubters with proof via a few gruesome photographs.

In addition, I have already seen one of the gruesome head shots of Osama bin Laden's killing. Never mind that the photo, which was displayed on a Pakistani news station, was an old, photo-shopped image, it is likely as gruesome as the real thing. It was likely seen by those very people President Obama's administration are afraid will be incensed by viewing our government death photos. As long as the real photographs are not released, there will remain doubts, not only among U.S. citizens, but also among people worldwide.

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