THE "TRUST US" ATTITUDE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR MANY AMERICANS

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THE "TRUST US" ATTITUDE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR MANY AMERICANS

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Republican Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown stated to reporters Wednesday that he had seen a picture of Osama Bin Laden dead, after being killed in a raid by U.S. Navy Seals, saying, "I've seen the picture. He's definitely dead." A member of Brown's staff said the senator got the picture from "a reliable source." But many Americans are frustrated and angry about the decision to keep the photos under wraps. 

In an announcement yesterday by the White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, the Obama administration said they will not release the alleged photos of a dead Osama Bin Laden. Reading from a script taken from a 60 Minutes interview that is set to air this Sunday, Carney said the President will not release the photos due to concerns over security for Americans both home and abroad. Carney reading from a script quoted President Obama in regards to his reasoning: "It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool, that's not who we are. We don't trot out this stuff as trophies."

This move by the White House is difficult for the people who lost loved one's on September 11th 2001. It is the lack of verifiable evidence available to the public, that has caused a great deal of frustration. This decision has been especially heart wrenching to those who believed that they were going to get some kind of closure with the death of Osama Bin Laden. 

If the security of Americans is such an important concern to the Obama administration, it would seem that the most sensible demonstration of that concern would be to cease and desist with aggressive foreign policies that not only put Americans at risk, but also cost a staggering amount of civilian lives in Pakistan, Afghanistan and most notably in Iraq. The last credible figures that were released put the death toll for the occupation of Iraq by the United States, at over 1 million. 
The loss in American military personnel has steadily increased over the years as a result of no less than four separate wars since 9/11. 


In Pakistan the civilian death toll from drone attacks has incited the Pakistan foreign secretary Salman Bashir into an all out threat against the United States. Three days after the raid that resulted in the alleged death of Osama Bin Laden, Bashir stated: "We feel that that sort of misadventure or miscalculation would result in a terrible catastrophe, there should be no doubt Pakistan has adequate capacity to ensure its own defense." 

It is actions such as these that threaten the safety and security of American citizens by inducing the anger of foreign nations that are expressing their frustration at the United States for bring military action to the streets and towns of their country. Americans have expressed their frustration that President Obama has refused to show the alleged photographs. On the popular website YouTube there has been a virtual flood of comments regarding this issue and the majority of them express suspicion and frustration with the President.

In the statement provide by Jay Carney, President Obama is quoted as saying "You don't trot out this stuff as trophies, yet Brown's statements he had seen the photograph of the dead terrorist came shortly after President Barack Obama said no photographs would be released. It would seem that the photos are available to those who have the right "source." 

Since the announcement that Bin Laden was killed, there has been very little in the way of public evidence to back up the administrations claims. The attitude that has been demonstrated is that we just have to trust them and take them at their word. Many people find that a hard pill to swallow since this administration and most notably Barack Obama himself has been less than truthful in the past.