Reuters Defends Decision To Publish Bin Laden Compound Photos

NEW YORK -- The White House isn’t releasing photos of Osama bin Laden’s dead body, but that didn’t stop Reuters from publishing several gruesome photos Wednesday showing the aftermath of the U.S. raid on bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan and sending them to clients of the wire service.

Reuters defended that decision in a statement to The Huffington Post.

"As this is a story of global importance, Reuters chose to share these photographs with its media clients and allow them to make editorial decisions on how they were used," a spokesperson said.

The news organization declined to comment further on photos showing three, unidentified men lying in pools of blood. (WARNING: the photographs can be viewed here but they are very graphic.)

But in an article accompanying the photos, Reuters said it purchased the photographs from a Pakistani security official who entered the compound about an hour after the U.S. raid took place that killed the al Qaeda leader. The official chose to remain anonymous.

“Reuters is confident of the authenticity of the purchased images because details in the photos appear to show a wrecked helicopter from the assault, matching details from photos taken independently on Monday,” the article read.

During Wednesday's press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney read from a transcript of an interview President Barack Obama gave earlier in the day to "60 Minutes," whereby the president explained the reasoning behind not releasing a photo of bin Laden's corpse.

“We don’t need to spike the football, and I think that given the graphic nature of these photos, it would create some national security risk,” Obama told "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft.

The White House declined to comment on the Reuters photos.

Comments

[doublerainbow]

11:22 PM on 05/13/2011

Does anybody know who those 3 men were in the photo. I saw them, sorry I did, they had their chins blown off. But who were they? And what happened to their bodies ???

[Nikita007]

10:33 AM on 05/08/2011

Found this on some blog:

"Abbottabad, the city where this raid is said to have taken place, is on the Northwestern frontier of Pakistan, along their disputed border with India. That city is a thousand miles from any ocean. So we rushed the body from Abbottabad, to some base in Afghanistan, did a rush autopsy, lab work and DNA test, then packed his corpse onto some other aircraft, another helicopter or light transport plane capable of landing on an aircraft carrier over a thousand miles away, to get his body dumped in the ocean in less then 24 hours. The flight times alone for such a journey really stretch the believability if you stop to actually think about this story we are being told."

[wlr523]

06:23 PM on 05/07/2011

so much for NOT taking a victory lap !!! settle down obama

[CJ1]

10:50 AM on 05/09/2011

Huh? This has nothing to do with Obama. A reporter bought these photos from a Pakistani. READ.

[doublerainbow]

11:22 PM on 05/13/2011

Or wir523 can just go back to watching glen beck.

[wlr523]

06:22 PM on 05/07/2011

obama is in way over his head

[doublerainbow]

11:26 PM on 05/13/2011

Rather, over your head.

[sillycarrot1]

03:26 PM on 05/07/2011

As an American who witnessed its citizens jumping from buildings to avoid being burt to death, I not only deservse to see the death photos of the man that did this-I demand it.

[Nate35]

12:06 PM on 05/07/2011

The photographs were not particularly shocking as photos of the aftermath of combat go. My complaint is not that these photos were released but that many others, including those of Osama bin Laden are hidden from view. Death and killing is a gruesome, horrifying business and to shelter the public from that is to sanitize it to the point of meaninglessness. It is the job of news organizations to report reality, even when that reality is blood soaked and horrifying (which it too often is), to do anything less is to fail the public in a dangerously numbing way. Those who would prefer to be treated as children can simply avoid the photos.

[Ralphiec88]

05:46 PM on 05/07/2011

Ah, the classic false choice. You either want to see the photos or you "prefer to be treated as children". What was that other phrase? "You're either with us or against us?"

[Nate35]

06:22 PM on 05/07/2011

The classic straw-man.

Though to be fair the grammar of my final sentence might be misleading. It assumes that the reader would understand that by "Those who would prefer to be treated as children" I am referring to those who argue against the release of the photos, rather than simply those who would rather not view them. This might be unfair, but I think its not a ridiculous assumption, given that the former are asking to have their ability to decide limited (like a toddler being told "no more candy"), while the latter are using their adult capacity for discretion.

[Patrick Hatcher]

04:49 AM on 05/07/2011

When the pirate Blackbead was killed in battle at Ocracoke inlet in what is now North Carolina the British Navy hung his severed head from the bow of their ship and sailed by coastal towns as a warning against pirates. I'm not saying we should have done anything like that but to give him a forty minute funeral only give OBL legitimacy. They should have let the photos out right away clean him up a little if you need to and then creamate him and scatter the ashes.

[Ralphiec88]

05:48 PM on 05/07/2011

No, it reinforces the legitimacy of the U.S. Bin Laden got shot down in his suburban mansion with it's blue light special furnishings like some failing drug lord, it's about as ignominious a death as he could have imagined.

[Nikita007]

09:32 AM on 05/08/2011

Well, the 40 min burial was because he was a Muslim and we didn't want to offend the Muslims.

Wait, didn't the President say that OBL wasn't a Muslim and that he didn't represent Muslims around the world?

But ... why are Muslims around the world protesting his death, threatening us and performing mock burials for OBL?

As for NOT showing his death pic so as NOT to incite further rage from the OBL camps - hmmmmmm ... rather a naive trail of thought there. They're going to continue hating us because we don't submit to Islam.

[Patrick Hatcher]

04:41 AM on 05/07/2011

But a photo of a South Vietnamese officer carrying out a summary execution of a Vietcong terrorist caught in the act wins a Pulitzer prize.

[palefeet]

04:50 PM on 05/07/2011

Get your definition of terrorist up to speed...

[Patrick Hatcher]

06:17 PM on 05/07/2011

By all accounts the Vietcong that was executed in that famous photograph was the leader of a death squad that had killed numerous South Vietnamese policemen and the families at their homes. If that is not a terrorist acting in contravention of the laws and customs of war then I don't know what a terrorist is.

[suzjazz]

02:40 AM on 05/07/2011

I fail to see why it's not OK to release a gruesome photo of the dead bin Laden but OK to release similar photos of men lying in pools of blood from the raid in which bin Laden was killed. I find the whole thing revolting, as I was sickened when they released the photos of Saddam Hussein's hanging and his two dead sons. Why is there this need to show bloody trophies? I think the President is right. This is what distinguishes Obama from George W. Bush, who liked to show off Saddam's gun as a trophy to visitors. As a child, he tortured small animals. Someone at Reuters who made the decision to release those photos shares Bush's psychopathic personality profile. It's shameful.

[doublerainbow]

11:24 PM on 05/13/2011

Who were those 3 guys and what happened to their bodies?

[AraG]

12:48 AM on 05/14/2011

From what I remember, the explanation was: a son of UBL, the courier who lived in the compound and another random AQ. I guess their bodies and the wounded wife were left for the Pakistanis to take care of...

[Sistagirl Young]

12:05 AM on 05/07/2011

So Reuters has released photos of the carnage from the ObL compound. "As this is a story of global importance Reuters chose to share these photographs with its media clients and allow them to make editorial decisions on how they were used."Is that not a truly unbelievable bit of tripe? Share wouldn't be a euphimism for sell would it? Reuters chose to 'share'these photos...How noble of Reuters to feel that they owed it to their media clients to let them decide what manner they were used. I hope they were considerate enough to not put them on the front page.my God, can you imagine if a child were to see such horrific photos ,what it would do to them? I wouldn't be able to rid myself of such gruesomeness for a very long time.Everytime I closed my eyes I would see the raw savageness of the killings. I'll pass thank you. So if graphic visuals of someone with a generous portion of their head missing is your cup of tea,more power to you.Enjoy.

[Anita Appelhans]

09:26 PM on 05/06/2011

Well, Architectural Digest sure didn't want them.

[jimmygeewhiz]

11:01 AM on 05/07/2011

Nice one Anita. Too funny.

[Anita Appelhans]

10:40 PM on 05/07/2011

Actually, I think the OBL compound would be great on "Flip This House".

[dollyfedup]

08:56 PM on 05/06/2011

Why didn't the media mention these graphic photos of the other men, without showing their bodies? I noticed they showed some of the other photos by Reuters on TV of the helicopter and the compound after the raid.

[vu jade]

08:25 PM on 05/06/2011

Nothing wrong with these photos, just a few pigs who got slaughtered!

[glowdotor]

08:13 PM on 05/06/2011

I have decided to release photos that I took of the Reuters newsroom in Afghanistan last week. You'll notice that several of the staffers are sitting around picking their nose,and others are on the phone talking to their mom at company expense. Remaining staff are asleep at their desks. Sorry, Reuters. I felt I owed it to my readers.

[travelingblogger]

06:15 PM on 05/06/2011

This is a Catch-22: show them and you're heartless and an flaming opportunitist. Don't show them and you're abusing your authority and the world has only your word Bin Laden is dead. Obama won't satisfy anyone either way.

We've had enough blood and gore on this event. Enough is enough. It's over. If Reuters and Ann Coulter (and anyone else) want to see the pics, they're more than happy to go to the Pentagon and see them. You sign the waiver and they'll show them to you (available under the Freedom of Information Act). Just don't publish them.

I never want to see them. The victims and survivors of 9/11 have siad they don't want to see them as well..