Obama: why US won’t release bin Laden’s photo

The United States will not release the picture of the late Osama bin Laden’s body, President Barack Obama said yesterday.

He spoke during an interview with CBS’ "60 Minutes".

Obama was persuaded by Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that releasing the images would pose a national security risk, White House officials said.

"We don’t trot this stuff out as trophies. There is no doubt that we killed Osama bin Laden," Mr. Obama said in an interview with the CBS News programme, according to a transcript read to reporters by White House press secretary Jay Carney. "We don’t need to spike the football," he also quoted the US President as saying.

After intense discussions with his national security team, Mr. Obama decided that the photos were too graphic and could further enflame Bin Laden’s followers, according to Mr. Carney, but would not change the minds of skeptics. Mr. Obama indicated in the interview that gloating by releasing the photos "is not who we are," Mr. Carney said.

The debate over whether to release photos of Bin Laden had consumed the White House over the last two days. Some senior officials said the release of photos was inevitable. On Tuesday, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Leon Panetta said he did not think "there was any question that ultimately a photograph would be presented to the public."

But officials at the Pentagon and State Department expressed qualms about releasing gruesome photos of Bin Laden’s bloodied body, and when the decision was made on Wednesday, "the majority of opinions" within the administration favoured withholding the photos, Mr. Carney said.
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