Obama administration's insistence that DNA tests prove body is 'virtually 100% match' fails to silence calls for graphic evidence
The official US version of Osama bin Laden's killing is being questioned around the world, with doubters asking why they have not yet seen stills or video footage of the raid, his corpse or his burial at sea.
The White House said it was considering whether to release photos of Bin Laden after he was killed, but admitted the photos were "gruesome". Press spokesman Jay Carney said officials were concerned about the "sensitivity" of releasing any photos, but "there is not some roiling debate here about this."
Asked if President Obama is involved in the photo discussion, Carney said the president is involved in every aspect of the issue.
The Obama administration earlier insisted it used advanced DNA techniques to find a "virtually 100% match" of the body with DNA taken from relatives of Bin Laden. Face-mapping software was also used.
But doubts persist – especially online. "Is Bin Laden Really Dead Or Is This Some Conspiracy Bullsh*t The Government Is Feeding Us??? Something To Think About," asked Hiphopwired.com.
"Talk about perfect timing! Right when the president's approval rating is at an all-time low, and just as he prepares his re-election campaign, look who he discovers hiding under a rock? What a way to kick some life into his career?"
Participants in jihadi website forums also expressed doubts about the killing. "How sound is the news of the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama bin Laden?" asked a member of the Ansar forum. Another said: "God willing, [this] news is not true. Catastrophic if it is authentic."
On Islamic Awakening one sympathiser wrote: "I will wait for the mujahideen to confirm this, and will not believe until I see a picture of his dead body."
Zabiullah Mujaid, a Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan, said in a statement to journalists: "This news is only coming from one side, from Obama's office, and America has not shown any evidence or proof to support this claim.".
American right-wingers were sceptical and scornful. On the Free Republic forum, a poster called salamander wrote: "The commie muzzie usurper in chief had better release photos and videos toot sweet. WTF with this burial at sea before the body is cold? … Something about this smells."
In July 2003, the US faced criticism but succeeding in silencing most conspiracy theorists by releasing graphic photos of the corpses of Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay to prove that US forces had killed them. The bodies were embalmed for 11 days before being buried.
"We are looking at releasing additional information, details about the raid as well as any other types of material, possibly including photos," White House counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan said on ABC News's Good Morning America show. "We want to understand exactly what the possible reaction might be to the release of this information."
The DNA evidence that confirmed Bin Laden was dead came through in the morning after the assault at Abbottabad.
By that time, US intelligence officials were 95% certain they had their man. He was identified by those who took part in the raid and by a woman in the building said to be one of the fugitive's wives.
Further identification came from photographs of the body that were beamed back to CIA specialists who compared them with confirmed images of the al-Qaida leader.
The DNA test left little room for doubt, with one intelligence official telling reporters they had "a virtually 100% match" of the body against DNA taken from "several Bin Laden family members."
As a prioritised task, the DNA analysis could be completed within six hours, said Mark Jobling, a geneticist at Leicester University where DNA fingerprinting was invented.
The first step was to extract DNA from a swab of blood or saliva, a procedure that can be done with a commercial kit in minutes. The next stage was to create a DNA profile to check against those compiled long ago from Bin Laden's relatives.
A genetic profile is based on regions of DNA called short tandem repeats (STRs). These are parts of the genetic code where a sequence of "letters", such as GATA, repeats several times over. The number of times an STR repeats varies from person to person, but is crucially inherited from parents, passed on to children and shared with siblings. A typical genetic fingerprint shows how many times 10 or more STRs repeat in an individual.
The match was obtained when the genetic profile of the dead man was compared with profiles already worked up for Bin Laden's close relatives, such as his sister, who is reported to have died in a Boston hospital. A sibling of Bin Laden's would share half his DNA, but a much stronger match was possible with profiles from more relatives.
NOTE: These photos are NOT the real photos of bin Ladens death.
The real photos have not yet been released. These photos are circulating now, but Defense Dept. says they are old edited photos that have been around for a while. the photos of the homes are REAL though .
- usama osama bin laden dead photo
Rick Shell: Reporting Live – Osama or Usama bin Laden has been killed. US sources including the president, have confirmed the death of the top al-Qaeda leader, saying he has been killed in firefight following a US Navy Seals raid in Abbottabad.
The operation to kill bin Laden was launched earlier Sunday in Pakistan’s Abbottabad, a two-hour drive north of the capital Islamabad.
Bin Laden was killed in a firefight. No Americans were harmed.
US Navy Seals attacked the 3 story home where Bin Laden was in hiding. The Seals rappelled from Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters. A large firefight ensued.
The home was 8 x larger than others in area, built in 2005 in a largely unpopulated area that had since grown around the home.
The home was surrounded by 2 security fences and barbed wire.
2 brothers who worked for bin Laden reportedly lived in the home and were also killed.
Latest reports indicate that Bin Laden’s son was also killed. Other dead include the two brothers and one woman that may have been used as a bullet shield. . Apparently there were many people at the residence. U.S. forces took custody of bin Laden’s body and it was later buried at seain keeping with Islamic tradition which calls for a body to be buried within 24 hours in most cases.
There are also reports that two of bin Laden’s wives and four of his children were also captured during the operation. No confirmation yet on these reports.
US authorities received intelligence last September and were able to track bin Laden down through his couriers. They followed them to the compound and after weeks of surveillance, Navy Seals attacked.
DNA testing was conducted as well as facial recognition techniques to help formally identify him.
Oil and Silver have taken a dive and the US dollar has soared. It will be interesting to see the reaction of Wall Street in the next few hours.
In addition to 9/11 ( September 11, 2001) bin Laden has also been linked to a string of attacks including the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole in Yemen. More Indepth Updates forthcoming.
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