I think this is important enough of an event to warrant a second post to sort out my thoughts on this. I'm still very surprised about the whole thing, though I am not surprised to see conspiracy theories abound on the internet. One of the main questions being asked is why did the U.S. dispose of the body so quickly, and why has no photographs of the killing emerged yet - which are fair questions to ask. However, not only do I think it would be impossible to fake his death, but I think it would be political suicide for Obama. Further, what would be the motivation? Obama was under no real pressure to capture Osama, what he did feel, however, was that this was an enormous opportunity for him - and he was right.
There are two ways to fake someone's death - either to lie and say they're dead when they are really alive, or to lie and say you killed them, when they've really been dead all along. I think it's obvious the latter is impossible. We have audio recordings and videos of Osama from recent times which we can unmistakably identify as him - the frequency of such recordings may have decreased, but then again he has been in hiding for the past nine years... every time he releases such a recording he risks capture, so it makes sense that he would be forced to release such messages less and less frequently, which may give the false impression that he had been killed prior to the events of Sunday.
The are two other options, aside from the rational one that he really was killed by a U.S. operation - either he is still alive and in hiding, or he is still alive and in U.S. custody. If the first were true, why wouldn't he simply release a new video and expose the U.S. hoax? And more importantly, if the U.S. wasn't convinced he was dead, or at least within their custody, why would they lie? But even holding Osama in custody to me seems too risky - the whole point, in my opinion, was to boost Obama's 2012 chances - why take the risk of being exposed and ruin your political career? It just doesn't make any sense to believe anything other than that Osama Bin Laden really was killed in Pakistan a few days ago.
But still, it is fair to ask why dispose of the body so hurriedly, and why no hard evidence of his death? To address the second part, it's likely that there is plenty of evidence, and I'm sure both video and pictures exist - however there may be reasons for not wanting to release them. Perhaps the conduct of the Navy Seals was not as appropriate as the government would have liked, perhaps the pictures are simply very gruesome and the U.S. fears inciting some emotional response amongst Muslims. That being said, it's also only been a few days - I'm sure in the future pictures, video, audio and eyewitnesses will surface, but these things generally take time.
So, it seems the final big question is why to dispose the body so quickly. The official answer had something to do with wanting to prevent any burial site from becoming a "terrorist shrine" and wanting to respect Islamic law regarding burial. I personally think this is reasonable, if one looks at it from Obama's perspective.
Really, what good could have come from giving a place for Islamist extremists to congregate and draw large crowds of people together? It's just a massacre waiting to happen. Further, bringing people together, which burying Osama certainly would have, only invites opportunity for those "fast talking Mullahs" to incite a riot or create chaos. The fact that he was buried quickly, in accordance to Islamic law I think was a very smart move. America got what it want, but did so without adding insult to injury for those in the Muslim world who saw Osama as a hero. It was the smart political choice, and perhaps a chance of changing a few minds in the Muslim world.
The alternative to burying him in Pakistan would have been to bring the body back to the U.S. - and that certainly could not have been good. I can only imagine the wild stories and outrage that would have followed, not to mention the media shitstorm that would have occurred here in the U.S. and throngs of people demanding his body be displayed. The whole thing could very easily have turned into a huge disaster - so why go through all of that, when you can just toss him in the ocean and everyone is happy, for the most part? I'm sure in time more and more details will surface regarding the whole event, but I think for once we can be fairly safe in laying down our guard, because I see no reason that Obama should be untruthful in all of this.
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