What's the conspiracy here?

I think too many people are spouting out the phrase "conspiracy theory" and are just not using their heads at all.

Let's take a step back here and review.

First off, I was a little bit surprised by how excited I was that we ended up raiding the compound Osama bin Laden was hiding in and that we killed him. I genuinely felt a sense of relief and pride that he has been hunted and killed. I believe that the world is a much better place without him and that he was a true villain.

Yesterday afternoon as I read account after account of the operation, I came to realize how truly gutsy this was and all that was at stake. We sent 10-12 of our most elite military personnel in to detain and/or kill him. I'm sure that there were contingency plans, but this was going to be an attack that relied on the element of surprise and was based on intelligence that was hopefully accurate. Think of the ramifications if the mission failed... we would lose 10-12 of our most elite soldiers and they would be killed most heinously. As a president and commander-in-chief, Obama would have been severely hamstrung. His leadership would have been questioned throughout the remainder of his term and morale in the country would be low.

So this brings me back to the whole question of the conspiracy theory that everyone seems to be touting. "We need to show pictures of Osama bin Laden's dead body to quell the conspiracy theorists out there."

What's the conspiracy?

I could come up with two seemingly plausible theories...

1) We went into the compound, but instead of getting Osama bin Laden, we got one of his body doubles. Bin Laden himself is in hiding elsewhere. The DNA testing was never done (but we said it was) and the body was "buried" at sea so that no one could discover the fake body.

Sure, that's plausible EXCEPT FOR THE WHOLE PROBLEM THAT BIN LADEN WOULD STILL BE OUT THERE! All he would need to do is send out a new video and the whole ruse would be up. If we didn't know exactly where bin Laden was, it would be all-too-easy for him to issue a video.

2) We actually managed to capture and kill bin Laden months ago, but President Obama was waiting for the right time to release the news to the public so that he could use it for the greatest political gain.

Aside from the fact that Obama could have used this jump in approval ratings since he came into office, sure. Though it is curious timing that he'd wait for almost the entire mid-west and south to be evacuating their homes and/or without power due to tornadoes and massive flooding.

3) The third and most ridiculous conspiracy theory that I was able to imagine was this:

We didn't actually get bin Laden. In fact, President Obama and Osama bin Laden are working together due to Obama's secret muslim beliefs. Both Obama and bin Laden know that if the economy continues to stay at the same pace or improve that Obama is virtually guaranteed a second term. So they agreed that Obama would "capture and kill" bin Laden. Obama would sell it to the military that "it is in America's best interests to believe that we successfully captured and killed bin Laden. As long as bin Laden stays underground for the next year and a half and doesn't give away the plan. Obama then turns traitor and helps al Qaeda destroy freedom and democracy for the world.


As soon as someone can explain this to me, then maybe I'll understand why people believe that the US needs to release the pictures of bin Laden's dead body. Don't we realize how much the release of the photos would be a rallying point for al Qaeda? I still have the video of the planes flying into the Twin Towers scorched into my memory. It's part of the reason why I feel so happy that we got bin Laden. Releasing the photographs gives other members of al Qaeda that image to motivate them to try harder to kill more innocents and inflict terror on the world.

I don't need to see the pictures. I believe that bin Laden is dead, not because I trust our president and our government. I believe that bin Laden is dead because if he was alive, it would be SO easy for him to prove that he's still alive. Shit, if I were al Qaeda, I would have dressed up a look alike to have shot and released a video the day after the strike that said, "Hey US, you missed. You got my body double and not me." But they DIDN'T issue that video. There has been nothing from al Qaeda at all. They're scrambling because their leader is gone, picture or no.