Obama: Photos of bin Laden Will Not be Released

Katie Pavlich | May 04, 2011 1:26 PM

Update II:

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney has confirmed President Obama's decision not to release photos of a dead Osama bin Laden.

During an interview with 60-minutes, President Obama was asked about whether he would release the photos, he responded in-part with the following.

"It was him."

"That's not who we are. We don't trot out this stuff as trophies. The fact of the matter is this was somebody who was deserving of the justice that he received and I think Americans and people around the world are glad that we need to spike the football and given the graphic nature of these photos it would create a national security risk and I've discussed this with Bob Gates and Hillary Clinton and my intelligence teams and they all agree."

"You will not see bin Laden walking on this earth again."

Carney admitted that bin Laden had not shown the same respect to his victims as the United States did by giving him a respectful burial in accordance to Islamic law when asked by a White House reporter during the press briefing.

"Because that's who we are."

Update I: According to Politico, Obama made the announcement that he will not release photos of bin Laden during a taping for a 60-minutes episode set to air later this week.

Obama made the announcement in a taped interview with CBS News set to air later Wednesday, which is part of reporter Steve Kroft’s first interview with the president since bin Laden was killed, set to air on “60 Minutes.”

CNN is reporting that there are three sets of photos of bin Laden’s corpse: from the raid, from a hangar in Afghanistan and from the USS Carl Vinson, before he was wrapped in a shroud and buried at sea. The shot from the hangar is close up on his face, with a visible head wound across both eyes, and is said to be the goriest.

A report coming from the White House tells us President Obama will not authorize the release of photos taken of Osama bin Laden after his death.

Yesterday, CIA Director Leon Panetta stated his belief that the photos should be released and they would eventually be made public to the American people. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have expressed they do not believe the photos should be released.

A White House press briefing is scheduled for 2 pm. Stay tuned for details.