@realjohnboy,
I appreciate some of the rationale for both sides of the argument, but lean towards releasing the photos.
I'm not really concerned about whether or not the photos will offend Muslim sensibilities and drive a couple of supposedly teetering nut-jobs into the arms of Al Qaeda, but I am quite concerned about the almost certain distasteful trivialization of the photos that will follow their release. I can just see the photos used on t-shirts and "demotivation" posters.
Other than satisfying a macabre fascination, what value is there in revealing the photos to Americans? I know the government can't release them and still exclude them from publication in the US, but I really don't get the argument that anyone in America, including the 9-11 Families, have
the right to see these pictures.
I suppose showing them to the survivors of Osama's victims might provide a measure for closure for some of them, and I wouldn't have a problem with the government giving them a look, but not in responding to an alleged right.
As I see it, the value in releasing the photos is not to obtain worldwide consensus that he is, in fact, dead, but to demythologize him. There are millions of people who, whether or not they have qualms about his actions, see him as a heroic figure. He took on the Soviet Union and beat it, he survived the assassination attempts of Middle Eastern nations (including Israel), and he bloodied the Great Satan and then slipped through it grasp in Tora Bora. One can easily imagine how they might think him to be blessed by God.
I think it would be of value to make it known that instead of retreating to a Spartan lifestyle in a cave so that he could continue holy jihad, the bastard was living in a mansion in urban Pakistan, with his wife(s) and kids, walking on Persian rugs while swilling Coke and watching the little ones play American made video games.
It's unfortunate that the photos are so gory, because it seems to me that photos of the dead bodies of "heroes" don't at all lend to their stature but, instead detract from it. I doubt any of Che's fans, then or now, keep a photo of his corpse over the fireplace.
I would rather concentrate on those who might turn from his myth because of the photos than those who it might incite.