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Terror Porn Alert: You May See Photos Of Bin Laden's Corpse
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jan 31, 2012
Modified Jan 31, 2012
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jan 31, 2012
Modified Jan 31, 2012
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It's a proud day to be an American terror-porn fetishist: an analysis of a DOJ filing by The Atlantic Wire reveals that the Obama administration may be forced to release photos of Osama bin Laden's dead body if "sensitive information" is redacted. The portion of the brief "concedes that there are reasonably segregable, nonexempt portions of the records that are legally required to be disclosed," a former director of the DOJ's Office of Information and Privacy says. Will they still be released "like a wedding album?"
Judicial Watch sued to obtain the files on bin Laden's death, but the Justice Department argued that all 52 records to bin Laden's death were exempt from FOIA. It was noted last spring that the government may have overplayed their hand, and Metcalfe, the legal expert, agrees. “The government’s ‘going-in’ position here, to put it in common litigation terms, is grossly overbroad." Congressmen aren't the only ones who can revel in grisly glory—"The brains were coming out of his socket!"
A section of one of the president's executive orders that covers the classification of information crucial to national security stipulates that such information
whenever practicable, use a classified addendum whenever classified information constitutes a small portion of an otherwise unclassified document or prepare a product to allow for dissemination at the lowest level of classification possible or in unclassified form.
According the former head of the government's Information Security Oversight Office, Barry may need to brush up on his Photoshopping: "If you're taking still photos, it's very easy to disaggregate a single photo from a batch of photos, and if you have a video it's easy to disaggregate clips from others."
We'll probably end up seeing bin Laden's body shortly before it was buried at sea, to prevent provoking too much outrage. But when? Let's bet on an October Surprise.
Tagged
barack obama
classified information
doj
foia
judicial watch
Osama bin Laden
seal team 6
seals
war on terror
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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