Beigs Blog

Osama is Dead, We Don’t Need Pictures

Not to get on my soapbox, but I’m a little disturbed by the sudden outcry from people wanting to see the postmortem pictures of Osama bin Laden. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not unhappy that the man is dead, Osama has shown the world a side of evil that hopefully we won’t have to see again for many, many years. But I do believe the President is making a wise decision in not releasing the photos of a man with half his face missing.

We Are Not Them

Going all the way back to the video execution of Daniel Pearl, Al-Qaeda makes a point of showing how truly evil they can be with very graphic and public executions. We are not terrorist and we should not hold up our kills like trophy’s for the whole world to see. The fact that the military treated his body with respect and in accordance with Muslim tradition shows the world who, as American’s, we strive to be.

Don’t Give Them a Reason

To say Al-Qaeda is dead at this point would be silly. To slap pictures of the now deceased bin Laden all over the internet and front pages of newspapers would only fuel the fire of those terrorist in the organization. Besides that, it would appear that some of those terrorist don’t believe Osama is actually dead, and that is fine by me. If they are walking around thinking that their great leader is still alive, then they have no reason to be angry at America for killing him. After months of waiting for a new message that will never come, they may start to realize that yes, he is actually dead, and by then it won’t be news anymore.

There is No Conspiracy

I love how the conspiracy theorist have all come out of the wood work on this one. While I can’t say it’s impossible that this whole story is just a big rouse to boost the President’s approval rating, it seems highly unlikely that President Obama is going to make an announcement like this only to have public enemy #1 show up on some video a month from now saying he was on vacation and is now ready to get back to work. Let’s get real people…no matter what happened this week or how it happened, Osama bin Laden is dead.

Be An Example

Does every child in America, especially those born after 9/11, need to see the grotesque pictures of a terrorist plastered all over the internet. What kind of example does that set? What does it say about America?

I remember in vivid detail seeing news pictures and video of Al-Qaeda members dancing in the street, celebrating after 9/11. I remember being so angry that they would celebrate the death of thousands of American’s. Watching the celebration at ground zero and in front of the White House after the announcement, I couldn’t help but remember those people I hated so much in the days following 9/11. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the need to celebrate…we finally destroyed the boogieman of our generation. But let’s remember that the whole world is watching us right now. Let’s be an example.