U.S. Sen. Scott Brown — who said earlier today he saw a picture of Osama bin Laden taken after the Sept. 11 mastermind was killed — fell victim to a fake photo of the al-Qaeda leader’s death that made the rounds after U.S. forces shot him on Sunday.
“The photo that I saw and that a lot of other people saw is not authentic,” Brown said in a statement.
A staffer added that the Wrentham Republican obtained the photo from what he believed to be “a reliable source.” The staffer said Brown was briefed on the raid by Obama administration officials, but those officials did not show him any pictures.
Brown told NECN earlier today that he’s seen the photos and that he doesn’t believe they should be released.
The White House announced they would not be releasing the photos. In transcripts from “60 Minutes” sent to the Herald, President Obama said they debated the issue, but keeping the images under wraps won out.
“You know we discussed this internally. Keep in mind that we are absolutely certain this was him. We’ve done DNA sampling and testing. And and so there is no doubt that we killed Osama bin Laden,” Obama tells CBS. “It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence.”
He added: “There’s no need to spike the football.”
As for Brown, he agreed the photos won’t help.
“If it’s to sell newspapers or just have a news cycle story then, no, I don’t think they should be released because we’re dealing with the sensitivities of the Muslim and Arab world and we still have men and women serving throughout the world,” said Brown in an interview today with NECN.
The Wrentham Republican said he had been fully briefed on the entire operation.
Brown also wrote a hand-written note to Obama thanking him for making “a bold decision” when it came to taking bin Laden down.
“A little bit of everybody contributed to this but the president made the ultimate decision,” said Brown. “The world right now is a safer place as a result of having bin Laden killed.”
Brown added that U.S. officials need to “re-evaluate” their relationship with Pakistan after the terror chief was found living in luxury in the country.
“If we’re going to give them a tremendous amount of taxpayer dollars, there is a quid pro quo,” he said, adding that he questions whether the country was helping Al-Qaeda after his briefing on the incident. “Where are they? We need to eliminate terrorism throughout that region.”
Photos taken by the Navy SEAL raiders show bin Laden shot in the head, numerous officials have said.
Two other Senate Republicans, Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) told reporters this morning they had viewed photos of bin Laden after he was killed. Brown, Ayotte and Chambliss serve on the Armed Services Committee.
But Ayotte and Chambliss have also backtracked. Ayotte put out a statement saying she doesn’t know if the photo she saw was real. Chambliss told reporters there was “a misunderstanding” about the photo he claimed to have seen, adding “it was not an official photo.”
By Hillary Chabot taken from http://bostonherald.com/news/politics/view/2011_0504sen_brown_against_releasing_bin_laden_photo/srvc=home&position=0
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