When Osama Bin Laden, the former head of al-Qaeda was killed on May 2, 2011, millions of Americans came together in great cheer. They went out into the streets shouting: “USA, USA!”, they shot off fireworks months before the fourth of July, and came together as one, regardless of their political viewpoints. It was a happy time for most, but many skeptics were asking themselves the same question: Did this really happen? They demanded pictures but they never came. President Obama chose not to release photographs of Bin Laden to protect citizens, but was this the right decision? Should we show graphic pictures and videos like these?
Most of the time war is hidden from us. The death tolls are hardly reported on anymore and graphic images of death, a common by-product of war, are tucked away as well. If one were to go by the large amounts of war propaganda and video games that practically turn war into a fun game that you can just restart and try again. If the actual images of war were released for all to see, the idea of an exciting battleground may start to fade away. People need to see what war actually does, they need to see the deaths and the pain. Maybe then, we wouldn’t jump into new wars so quickly.
I think Obama should have released those pictures, not because of the need for proof or evidence, but because of the need for Americans to see what war actually looks like. Some people may not like it, they may demand that these graphic images be stripped from the newsstands, that they should been spared from these pictures. Well, this is real life, these are real images and this is what war really looks like.