Military Ordered Photos of bin Laden Corpse Destroyed

Many Photos Went to CIA, Email Suggests

SOCOM Commander Admiral William McRaven issued an order 11 days after the killing of Osama bin Laden that has finally come to light, after the release of an email under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The heavily redacted email sent to SOCOM officers said that all photos of Osama Bin Laden’s remains “should have been turned over to the CIA; if you still them them destroy them immediately.”

The Pentagon’s office of general counsel has claimed no such order existed related to the photographs, and says the only information they could find at all about it was the email itself.

The CIA has maintained that since the raid was done under the direction of Leon Panetta, a CIA Director at the time, all of the documents related to the raid are “CIA records.” The Obama Administration has insisted all the photos are classified and will never be released.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.