Posted on 05/04/2011 10:34:25 AM PDT by library user
Pres. Obama has decided NOT to release any photos.
- Chuck Todd, NBC
According to Daniel Metcalfe, the former chief of the Department of Justice's Office of Information and Privacy—a post that effectively made him the government's top expert in the Freedom of Information Act—the odds are better than even that a FOIA lawsuit seeking the photo's release would succeed.
"If someone brought a FOIA complaint seeking the photo, and the government had improperly classified it, I think the government would lose," Metcalfe, who supervised the defense of more than 500 FOIA and Privacy Act lawsuits for the U.S., told Gawker. He is now the executive director of the Collaboration on Government Secrecy at American University's Washington College of Law.
Under the FOIA, government agencies—but not the White House itself—can be compelled to turn over any document, photo, video, or other record as long as there's no statutory reason for withholding it. If Obama decides against releasing a bin Laden photo, he faces two obstacles to keeping it secret: 1) Since it was (presumably) taken by a Navy SEAL working on a joint mission of the CIA and Department of Defense's Joint Special Operations Command, it was originated by a federal agency subject to the FOIA and 2) There doesn't appear to be a good reason under the FOIA to keep it secret.
"As far as photos of the corpse go," said Kel McClanahan, the executive director of National Security Counselors, a law firm specializing in litigating secrecy issues, "there's nothing I can reasonably think of that would exempt that, unless someone classified them." The government could conceivably try to deny a FOIA request for the photos based on the statute's privacy exemptions, but that would put it in the awkward position of going to court to protect Osama bin Laden's surviving family members' privacy.
My thoughts exactly. This whole story reeks of complete BS. Aru Gharib photos are OK but not the biggest POS on the planet with a bullet in his skull? Yeah ok
At least Bush had the nerve to show Saddams pics!
Is there a statement issued by the Seals? Has any eyewitness given a statement to his killing? I’m not a conspiracy theorist AT ALL, but this POS in the White House makes me question everything. And I wouldn’t put it past him to play games with the facts if they help his political prospects. Besides the photo issue, there are a rash of problems and inconsistencies in the story, least of which is: “A helicopter crashes on the approach to the compound, close enough to end up straddling one of the interior walls. The noise of the crash would have alerted the occupants that they were coming for the AlQueda POS. At that point, Osama would immediately do one of two things: Grab a weapon and go out with guns blazing or have himself killed (or pop himself off) to avoid being taken alive. Since the current version of the kill is that he was unarmed, neither scenario fits. If he was fighting when killed, he’d be armed. If he had been killed by the Seals unarmed that makes no sense either. Except for one possibility: suicide by Seals? That doesn’t really make sense for the kind of fanatic this guy was.
So, bottom line, something’s not adding up. And no, I’m not saying anything to impugn the integrity of those incredible heros who carried out their mission. I just believe that their so-called commander in chief is quite capable of exploiting them to his own ends.
LOL...
He will be greeting at Walmart part-time as well.
Obama has a strange gift of going against the American people on almost every major issue.
This will backfire on him. He will do his usual routine. Go against the will of the people, then cave after the pressure is on.
Apologies if this point has already been made in the thread, but if the US government can release post-assassination photos of President Kennedy, then the “too gruesome” excuse is bogus. This is all about appeasing the crazy mos. Does anyone really believe that those who seek American blood because of the death of Bin Laden are going to require the additional motivation of death photos?
Osama may or may not be dead.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Where the bloody blue blazes has this yutz been living for the past 10 years? Under an effing rock?? Which photos would you like to start with, president jackwagon? Clueless, stupid, inept...aargh! There aren't enough adjectives.
He’s definitely in Bialarussia, being waterboarded ‘til he spills the beans on Al Qaeda.
The Muzzies are perennially offended. If you don’t offend them, they take offense at not having anything to be offended by. You beat them, you have to show you’re in charge by deliberately offending them. Otherwise, they think they’re the real victors.
I think Obama should be waterboarded until he spills the beans on al qaeda.
I knew they were good for something. Anytime you want to see a bullet-riddled corpse, just call Wikileaks.
Still scratching my head as to how these amateurs lobotomized 53% of the 2008 voters.
A high school civics class picked at random would get more right than Jarrett, Obama & Carney.
However, a family member/firefighter critical of Obama came on Fox before the presser to say that he was not invited to Ground Zero and that like-minded family members were also not invited.
Rummy told the Friends this a.m. that it was the Iraqi Govt. who released Saddam’s photos...the Defense Dept. released the ones of the dead sons. Rummy also didn’t think it was wise to release the pics.
Hey Obama.. Prove to us Osama didn’t really die of kidney disease in 2001.. Show us the pictures!
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