WASHINGTON — US officials still have not decided whether or not to release photo proof that terror mastermind Usama bin Laden is dead — so Sen. Lindsey Graham is trying to make the case by saying it is in the country’s best interest, FOX News reported Monday.
“I know the Geneva Convention very well,” the South Carolina Republican and member of the Armed Services Committee told FOX News Radio, “but this is a circumstance where I believe it’s not a violation of the convention, it would be in our national interests to make a case, documented case, that this was Usama bin Laden, he is dead.”
Graham does admit, though, that there will always be doubters and conspiracy theorists. “I think [releasing the photo] would be a smart thing to do, and have it rolled out in a sensitive way, but prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, and some people still won’t believe it,” he told Kilmeade and Friends.
Others on Capitol Hill agree. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), both of who sit on the Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, conceded in a news conference Monday that it may be necessary to release the photo.
Lieberman said that it was a “very difficult decision” to make, but that a photo release would help to quell doubts. Collins echoed her colleague, explaining that while she has “no doubt” Usama bin Laden is dead there are some that could peddle a myth that he is alive.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said it is important to “maintain dignity,” while not inflaming falsehoods and tension worldwide.
Obama counterterrorism adviser John Brennan told reporters at the White House briefing Monday that the administration is still trying to determine if and what will be released “to make sure nobody has any basis to deny that we got bin Laden.”