Washington DC:
To release or not to release?
That question is bedeviling the Obama administration, as White House officials try to determine whether the burning desire among Americans to see an actual photo of Osama Bin Laden's body outweighs the potential harm that releasing such a photo might cause, by further inflaming Bin Laden's disciples around the world.
A photo taken after Bin Laden was shot and killed by Navy Seals in a daring midnight raid on his compound clearly depicts the Al Qaeda leader, according to one official who has seen it. "It looks like him, covered in blood, with a hole in his head," the official said.
A growing clamor of voices, mostly from the political right, has been demanding proof that Bin Laden really is dead. Beyond partisans and conspiracy theorists, though, many ordinary Americans who are searching for closure to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon also want to see the ultimate proof.
White House officials said Tuesday morning that they were still deciding what to do, though they added that they were leaning toward releasing the photo. A senior administration official said that the administration could release it as soon as Tuesday. But administration officials cautioned that they were still weighing the costs and benefits of such a move.
"The additional release of information - or any type of a photographic evidence - is something that we have to take into account in terms of what reaction might be to it," the White House adviser on counterterrorism, John O. Brennan, told NBC's "Today" show on Tuesday. "We're doing that, again, in a careful manner."