National Security

4May/118

Breaking: Obama nixes ObL death photo release

And in making this decision, has guaranteed the complete apotheosis of bin Laden in the Middle East as well as other regions of the world.

In an interview with Steve Kroft for this Sunday's "60 Minutes," President Obama says he won't release post-mortem images of Osama bin Laden taken to prove his death.

Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers agrees:

"The risks of release outweigh the benefits," Rogers said. "Conspiracy theorists around the world will just claim the photos are doctored anyway, and there is a real risk that releasing the photos will only serve to inflame public opinion in the Middle East."

"Imagine how the American people would react if Al Qaeda killed one of our troops or military leaders, and put photos of the body on the internet,"

I don't think I can formulate a better reaction to this statement than ACE's guest-blogger DrewM:

Put aside the fact they do this whenever they can, how the fuck can any American...compare bin Laden to American servicemen and women?

As for our betters who say don't release the photos because it might inflame the Religion of Peace into a murderous rage (a state also known as "everyday")...everyone of you bastards better be on record either urging the withholding of or condemning the release of photos from Abu Ghraib.

And FTR- I don't need to see the photos to believe he's dead. I want want the world to see this is what happens to you when you kill Americans.

Hear, hear Drew. I don't need to see the photos either, but I believe that there are others who do. So does "Froggy" at BlackFive:

This is also curious from the standpoint of Islamic sensitivity, which is clearly foremost in the mind of this White House. Only Obama could go out of his way to emphasize the respect for the Islamic burial process only to tee up perfectly the conditions under which conspiracy theories are born. The primitive peoples of the middle eastare perhaps the most gullible ethnic group on the planet. When I was in Iraq, there was a widely held belief thatVBIEDs were manufactured on our US military base inRamadi, and that the guys with beards (like me) were actually Israeli agents driving in HMMVs with the Star of David on the door. I shit you not.

Make sure you read the BlackFive piece in it's entirety, as it has bearing on Dan's earlier post about the "evolving" narrative of the SEAL team's raid this past Sunday. Our pal Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom also has an excellent post regarding the "Tale of two spins".

Sadly, I suspect the possibility of permanently elevating ObL to a near mythical stature was disregaded in favor of a more self-serving domestic political calculus.

By refusing to release the photos the President has effectively spawned a new conspiracy-theorist group, probably to be derisively referred to as "Deathers". And not only will he be able to brush aside any questions regarding the judiciousness of this decision vis-a-vis the predilection for conspiracy theories by "the Arab street", but also ones of his much vaunted dedication to "Transparency!", by comparing any incredulous folks to "Birthers".

As an added bonus, it will surely provide numerous opportunities in the future for him to remind everyone, with a no doubt casual and offhanded posture, the he got bin Laden; without it appearing to be shameless self-promotion. Why the campaign rhetoric nearly writes itself...

In choosing this course, I believe that The President has sacrificed the national interests for his own partisan ones-again; enabled by GOP useful idiots who fear anything less than an appearance of "comity" and gentlemanly bi-partisanship in the wake of ObL's demise.

What do you think, kind reader?

UPDATE: Many thanks to Stacy McCain for including us into his very comprehensive round-up of reactions to the President's decision.

UPDATE II: Also we are grateful to The Lonely Conservative for linking to our humble opinions when posting on this subject.

UPDATE III: Jeff Goldstein characterizes the matter in his own inimitable and pithy fashion:

And now Obama is saying he won’t release the proof of death he claimed was so vital — and Andrea Mitchell, among others, is satisfied with this: the government has all the proof it needs, so why show anyone else? Per Mitchell, we’re inherently to trust the government. Because it isn’t a Republican in the White House. So it must be good and righteous.

And besides, we don’t want to offend Muslim sensibilities. After all, there’s no telling how these inherently peaceful people might react to photos of a dead bin Laden, who doesn’t represent Islam in any way. Right?

Check it out for yourself.

Rocketman

Tagged as: National Security, Obama, Osama Bin Ladens demise 8 Comments

9Nov/099

The needs of Obama outweigh the need for the truth!

Like many I'm sure, you may haveÂ watchedÂ some ofÂ the coverage surrounding the Fort Hood shooter, Major Hasan, and marveled at the apparent need of the legacy media and some blogs to find any motivation for that shooting other than what has become knownÂ aboutÂ his zealous committment to Islamic extremist points of view.Â In spite of the emerging facts about Hasan's past, his disturbing behavior, and his association with suspicious individuals, the media has instead done it's best to make him out to be a victim of sorts. We've heard about him suffering insults, ridicule, and derision, without being provided the proper "context"; that this happened after he became a vocal apologist for jihadist acts, outspoken against American foreign policy, and the actions his army brethren in pursuing that policy.Â We've also been shown interviews with hand-wringing psychologists who assert that Hassan contracted a form of post traumatic stress disorder, even though he had yet to deploy to a war zone, simply through listening to the experiences of the soldiers he counseled-as if it were like being adversley affected by second-hand-smoke.Â This risible notion of some form of derivitive affectation set my mind awhirl wondering why the liberal media outlets would go out of their way trying to attribute Hasan's actions to anything but the Jihadist mindset he had adopted.

And then it occurred to me why they had to find some reason, any reason, other than Hasan's decision to be a jihadi.Â If theÂ liberal mediaÂ were to acquiesce and report the facts-that he was enamoured of the teachings of radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, that he was described by other Muslims as being a "radical fundamentalist", and that the FBI knew that Hasan had tried to contact Al Queda-then the public might rightly begin to associate his acts as being jihadist, or the acts of an Islamic extremist; in other words an act of terrorism.Â And that is an admission they are loathe to make, because of the possible repercussions.

Should the headlines and ledesÂ broadcast the fact that Hasan was a jihadist and therefore his rampage in effect a terrorist act, such a shocking revelation would surely cement itself into the minds of even low information voters.Â And, naturally questions would arise in individual psyches, at dinner tables, in barrooms, at cocktail parties, and all across the nation: why was this allowed to happen?Â How is it that the FBI knew of it for 6 months, and didn't act?Â And perhaps the question most feared in the White House, and the Congressional halls of power; "How come incidents like this never happened when Bush was President"?

During the campaign we, as a nation, were told to ignore Obama's inexperience and instead concentrate on his Brilliance!, Judgement!, and the way that the rest of the world would instantly love America once that reckless cowboy,Â the certifiable dolt Chimperor McBusHitlerBurton had vacated the White House; that when Americans were reminded of the fact that Mr. Bush had kept the country safe from terror attack since 9/11, an astonishing and herculean feat in and of itself, that those eeeeeevvvolll Rethugs! were simply playing the fear card, that it was no real accomplishment, and in fact the nation had nothing to fear from the Islamists who didn't pose any real threat to our country !Â

If the media told the truth about Hasan's motivations and the nature of his killing spree, as well asÂ that act'sÂ acclaim by his revered cleric, then not only would the lie be put to many of the assertions made during the campaign, but a huge majority of independant voters might forever come to associate Obama and the Democrats as being unacceptably soft on national security-anÂ potentially toxicÂ label in post 9/11 America.Â Add to that the public's dissatisfaction with the economy, Obamacare, his handling of Afghanistan, and what may eventually be a nuclear Iran and it all adds up to a possible electoral armageddon for the Democrats and Obama; both in 2010, 2012, and maybe beyond.

"From each according to their ability, to each according to their need", is a quote by Karl Marx that I'm sure, in varying degrees,Â is secretly popular amongst many of the members of the legacy media, nutroot blogs, and White House denizens.Â Right now, Obama desperately needs this episode to not be seen as a terrorist attack in the eyes of the public, and the media has the ability to make that happen-or so they think.Â Unless Senator Lieberman's hearing can command the attention necessary to get the real story out, the needs of the public for the truth may just be sacrificed to serve the electoral need of Mr. Obama and the Democrats.

Must be more of that new kind of politics...But is that the Change! America voted for?Â Is it Change! we can believe in..?

UPDATE: Darleen at Protein Wisdom weighs in on the media's willful disregard for the facts in theirÂ lame attempts to spin the Fort Hood shootings in any direction but towards the truth.