Public interest and transparency advocacy group Judicial Watch filed a federal Freedom of Information Act Request to force the Obama administration the release photographs of the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan last weekend. Included in the suit is a request that pictures of Bin Laden’s corpse be released to the public.
The request can be viewed here, and requests that all photographic and video information be released within twenty days. The Obama administration had announced earlier this week that photos of Bin Laden would not be released citing concerns over political fallout and the use of the photos as a “propaganda tool” for Al-Qaeda supporters. In an interview with 60 Minutes that will air next Sunday Obama explained,
“The fact of the matter is this was somebody who was deserving of the justice that he received, and I think Americans and people around the world are glad that he is gone. But we don’t need to spike the football.”
Judicial Watch maintains that the public has an interest in the release of the photos regardless of political considerations. In a statement released yesterday, JW President Tom Fitton stated,
“President Obama’s decision not to release the bin Laden photos is at odds with his promises to make his administration the most transparent in history. Judicial Watch hopes its FOIA requests will provide a mechanism to release these records in an orderly fashion in compliance with the FOIA law. President Obama’s reluctance to ‘spike the football’ is not a lawful reason for withholding these historic public documents from the American people. We are prepared to go to court to obtain this information.”
The requests have been sent to both the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency. However, the issue could be clouded by Obama administration claims that since the operation was coordinated from the White House the photos are protected by executive privilege and therefore are not under the scope of the Freedom of Information Act. The administration could also seek to have the documents labeled as classified to skirt the request. By law the administration and requested agencies have twenty days to respond to the request.
Courtesy of The Hill and Judicial Watch. Photo Wikipedia.
