US lawmakers to see picture of bin Laden's corpse

Washington, May 11: Some US lawmakers would be shown the picture of the corpse of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who was shot dead last week by US special forces in Abbottabad in Pakistan, a media report said today (May11).

The select group of US lawmakers mainly from the intelligence and armed services committees of the both chambers of the Congress - would be shown these pictures at CIA headquarters, the CNN said, adding that the timing has not been decided yet.

Last week, US President Barack Obama refused to make these pictures public arguing that this would harm America's national security interests.

"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 or as a propaganda tool. That's not who we are. We don't trot out this stuff as trophies," Obama told the CBS news on Sunday.

"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," Obama said, adding he has seen those pictures.

"It was him," Obama said, reacting to the picture that he saw of bin Laden.

"We discussed this internally. Keep in mind that we are absolutely certain that this was him. We've done DNA sampling and testing. So there was no doubt that we killed Osama bin Laden," he said.

Obama said: "And so we don't think that a photograph, in and of itself, is going to make any difference. There are going to be some folks who deny it. The fact of the matter is, you will not see bin Laden walking on this Earth again."

PTI