My feelings on the question of releasing the photo...

Photos and video of Americans landing on the moon have not silenced detractors. The mere mention of JFK invokes great conspiracy theories. Barak Obama has released two forms of live birth certification, yet the "birthers" still shout. There are pictures, video, and recorded cell phone calls of the events of September 11, 2001, and a video of Osama Bin Laden claiming responsibility for the attacks, and people around the world still argue that he had nothing to do with it. This type of evidence does nothing in the way of convincing those who do not want to be convinced. Releasing a photo of a dead Osama Bin Laden, his skull blown apart by a Navy SEAL's bullet, will not help the American cause abroad, nor will it silence any who do not want to believe.

Obama made the right call when he sent SEAL Team 6 in via helicopter rather than bombing the compound in Pakistan, and he made the right call when he decided not to release the photo. I am proud of that decision, and am embarassed by those Americans who call for the release of it, just as I was embarassed by the victorious, celebratory chants of "USA! USA!" following Obama's announcement Sunday night that Bin Laden had been killed.

I remember the outrage across America when a newspaper ran the photo of dead Americans hanging from a bridge at the beginning of the Iraq war, as well as the outrage when videos were made public of Iraqis celebrating the deaths of American soldiers by dancing in the streets, laughing and burning American flags and likenesses of then-President Bush. How could we turn around and do the same thing?

I hope it is obvious that I am not condemning the actions ordered by President Obama and carried out by the U.S. military, and that I am not upset by the outcome of said actions. I just wish that Americans would realize how important it is that we pay attention to the way we react to things like this, because the entire world is watching.