The Case for Proof
The White House announced Wednesday that they had decided not to release photos of Osama bin Laden's corpse, something which has been widely called for by people around the world who want proof that the man killed in the daring raid Sunday night was, in fact, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.
The administration has been very deliberate about everything with regards to this mission. President Obama reportedly "slept on it" before giving the final go-ahead, waiting 16 hours to sign the order for Navy SEALs to execute the mission.
Once the target was killed, Osama bin Laden's body was treated in accordance with Muslim custom, but the decision was made to bury the body at sea in order to avoid creating a shrine for the continuation of the cult of Osama.
On Monday's CBN News Channel Midday edition, I made the point that by not releasing proof of death, the administration would be fueling the cultural tendency of Muslim nations to believe conspiracy theories.
And indeed, claims that bin Laden is not dead already abound. I still hold to the belief that we must provide some proof to the world, though a photo would arguably be the weakest form of proof we could show, since photos can be made to look like anything these days.
A much better idea would have been to bring in impartial experts from countries like Jordan and the UAE to view and even perhaps test the body, then report on their findings.
This would have meant disregarding the standard Muslim practice of burying their dead within 24 hours. But if the Muslim street wanted to raise a hue and cry over that, we could simply point out that if Osama was a good Muslim, then Islam is not, in fact, a religion of peace, since Osama bin Laden was without a doubt an evil murderer of thousands of innocent people.
If there's one thing that has been made clear about Islamic culture, however, it is that irony is not a concept they understand. Nevertheless, while I understand the administration's reasoning behind not releasing the death photo (i.e., not wanting to appear to be "spiking the football"), I still think that some form of proof should be released, even if it is shown only to select influential people from the Muslim community.
In closing, I would like to stress that the death of any man, even one who is patently evil, is not cause for celebration. What is worth celebrating is that this man will no longer be able to perpetrate his evil on the world.
It's a subtle distinction, but as believers, an important one. If ultimate justice is made sweeter by the decade of waiting in this case, imagine what it will be like when God's perfect justice is finally meted out, especially for those whose sins have already been paid for.
UPDATE: Al Qaeda has now provided the proof, obviously in the belief that Osama Bin Laden will do more for their Jihad dead than alive. They may be right.