Earlier CIA Director Leon Panetta had said there has never been any doubt that ultimately a photograph of the Al Qaeda leader would be released to the public.
In the absence of a picture to show that Bin Laden is dead, some have claimed that the raid on a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was fiction - and the world's most wanted man had not been killed.
Already fake images purporting to show Bin Laden shortly after he was killed (such as this one) are being passed around the internet
'WE DON'T TROT THIS STUFF OUT AS TROPHIES': OBAMA REFUSES TO RELEASE PHOTOGRAPHS OF OSAMA BIN LADEN
In a pre recorded interview with CBS's 60 Minutes, President Obama answered questions on why he had chosen not to release graphic images of Osama Bin Laden.
STEVE KROFT: Did you see the pictures?
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Yes.
KROFT: What was your reaction when you saw them?
OBAMA: It was him.
KROFT: Why haven't you released them?
OBAMA: 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 so there is no doubt that we killed Osama Bin Laden. 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. As a propaganda tool. You know, that's not who we are.
You know, we don't trot out this stuff as trophies. You know, 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's gone. But we don't need to spike the football. And I think that given the graphic nature of these photos, it would create some national security risk. And I've discussed this with Bob Gates and Hillary Clinton and my intelligence teams and they all agree.
KROFT: There are people in Pakistan, for example, who say, "Look, this is all a lie. Obama, this is another American trick. Osama's not dead."
'I'll be candid. There are sensitivities here in terms of the appropriateness of releasing photographs of Osama Bin Laden.'
The disclosure of images would have provided further closure to Americans nearly a decade after the September 11, 2001, attacks that he masterminded.
It could also disprove those who doubt the death of Bin Laden, who was shot in the head and chest at a fortified compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
But critics had said such photos are distasteful and if the Obama administration releases them, they could offend Muslims and be exploited by extremists.
Gone but not forgotten: Muslim clerics are predicting revenge attacks against American targets because of the way the government decided to dispose of Bin Laden's body
'What we don't want to do is to release anything that might be either misunderstood or that would cause other problems,' said President Barack Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan, speaking on National Public Radio.
On Monday an obviously faked picture of his corpse spread round the world, giving conspiracy theorists new material to fuel their speculation.
As well as pictures of Bin Laden’s body – reportedly with a bullet hole above an eye, and another to the heart – the U.S. has video of both the raid and his burial at sea.
Last night CIA director Leon Panetta said that ‘ultimately’ a photograph of Bin Laden’s corpse will be released - although the President has contradicted him today.
Speaking on NBC Nightly News, he said: ‘The government obviously has been talking about how best to do this, but I don’t think there was any question that ultimately a photograph would be presented to the public.
‘Obviously I’ve seen those photographs. We’ve analysed them and there’s no question that it’s Bin Laden.
‘I think there’s no question that there were concerns that had to be debated about the impact these photos would have.
‘But the bottom line is that we got Bin Laden and I think we have to reveal to the rest of the world the fact that we were able to get him and kill him.’
Earlier White House spokesman Jay Carney confirmed that the photo of Bin Laden’s corpse was ‘gruesome’ but said ‘it could be inflammatory’ if released.
He said the President was mulling over whether to release the image but that there were concerns about the ‘sensitivity’ of doing so.
But the evidence so far suggests that even with a photograph of the corpse, conspiracy theories will continue.
For just as in life Bin Laden was the terrorist who launched a thousand conspiracy theories, in death, it seems, he is no different.
Within hours of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001 it was being claimed the massacre was masterminded by the CIA, or the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, and that thousands of Jews had been warned to stay off work on the day.
Raided: Pakistani security officials grant access to journalists to cover the compound where Osama Bin Laden was killed
High: A Pakistani security official passes by the Bin Laden's compound
Others said Bin Laden was in a hospital under U.S. care when the attack took place.
Senior military officials confirmed to CNN there were three sets of pictures of Bin Laden.
The first set was taken during the raid itself, and is thought to show two dead brothers, and Bin Laden's dead teenage son.
The second, and most 'identifiable' set of pictures were taken of his mutilated body at an Afghan airbase.
These are the most troubling set of images as they show 'massive open head wounds' - but are the most clear pictures of Bin Laden's face.
The third set were taken aboard the USS Carl Vinson, and show a washed and shrouded Bin Laden being lowered into his watery grave.
Yesterday Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said: ‘This news is only coming from one side, from Obama’s office, and America has not shown any evidence or proof to support this claim.
‘On the other side, our sources close to Osama Bin Laden have not confirmed or denied the news. Therefore the Islamic Emirate consider any assertion premature.’
However, shadowy Al Qaeda spokesmen usually regarded as reliable have effectively accepted that Bin Laden is dead by vowing vengeance and continuing war on the West.
The internet is abuzz with claims that Bin Laden died long ago – perhaps of liver or kidney failure, perhaps killed in the allied assault on the Afghan Tora Bora mountains in 2001, perhaps assassinated at some other time.
The argument goes that his body was kept hidden, and his death a secret, so that America could justify the continuation of the War on Terror, along with billions in military expenditure. Only now, some suggest, has America decided it is time to announce his death, along with an elaborate cover-story.
Some were even suggesting yesterday that the news was suddenly released to divert attention from evidence-less claims that Barack Obama was not born in America, so is not lawfully president.
Ship: The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier took Osama Bin Laden's body to the North Arabian sea where they disposed of him following Islamic traditions
'
Aftermath: A view of the compound where Osama Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad
Last night David Cameron said: ‘There are some conspiracy theorists who will never be satisfied. There are some people who still believe that Elvis will be found riding Shergar.’
Some Muslims yesterday disputed the U.S. claim that Bin Laden’s burial at sea was in accordance with Islamic tradition.
A U.S. government spokesman said it had been decided it would be difficult to find a country prepared to accept the body and then bury it within 24 hours of death as dictated by Islamic custom. But he said it had been instead respectfully interred in the waves of the Indian Ocean off Pakistan from the U.S. aircraft carrier the Carl Vinson.
Muslim scholars said that while sea burials have long been an occasional accepted necessity, there was no such need in this case.
The head of Egypt’s prestigious seat of Sunni Muslim learning, al-Azhar, said the sea burial ‘contradicts all the religious values and human norms’.
Burial place: Osama Bin Laden's body was taken out to sea and dumped in the North Arabian Sea from the deck of the USS Carl Vinson officials have confirmed
The operation - code named 'Geronimo' - was watched by the President in real time from the helmet mounted camera of an elite Navy SEAL commando.
Although President Obama saw the terror chief killed by a single bullet to the head, it was only when he received the signal 'Geronino E-KIA' - which stands for 'Enemy Killed In Action'- that he knew Bin Laden was dead.
It is understood Bin Laden, code named 'Jackpot', was unarmed but did 'resist'.
It had previously been claimed the terror chief also used a woman thought to be his wife as a human shield - but this has now been retracted by officials.
According to reports Bin Laden's 12-year-old daughter was present when U.S. forces shot and killed her father.
Obama had earlier ruled out killing the terrorist with two air dropped bombs and an as yet undisclosed third option, in favour of the more risky raid which would provide DNA and bodily evidence Osama was dead.
The SEAL team also used a facial recognition system to positively identify the body of Bin Laden.
The commander of the operation took a digital image of Bin Laden's remains and fed them back to the CIA, where a facial recognition system confirmed the identity.
Bin Laden's widow, 27-year-old Amal Al-Sadah, who was shot in the leg, also helped to identify the body.
As well as the Al Qaeda commander, one of his adult sons - possibly 19-year-old Hamza bin Laden - the courier who led the CIA to Bin Laden and the courier's brother were also killed.
The New York Times reported a Pakistani official as saying there were nine children, from two to 12 years old, left behind in the compound.
Intelligence experts in Afghanistan are today sifting through a treasure trove of computer hard drives and other intelligence captured from the compound in Pakistan - described by one official as 'the mother load'.
A senior U.S. official said Navy SEALs had recovered 10 hard drives, 5 computers and more than 100 storage devices from the compound - including discs, DVDs and thumb drives.
Scene: Several methods were said to have been used to identify Bin Laden after he was shot during a raid at this hideout in Abbottabad
The U.S. military said that preparations for burying the terror leader in the sea lasted an hour.
His body was washed aboard the USS Carl Vinson before being covered in a white sheet and religious remarks translated into Arabic by a native speaker were read over the corpse.
'The burial of Bin Laden's remains was done in strict conformance with Islamist precepts and practices,' said the White House counter-terrorism chief John Brennan.
Preparations for burial began at 1:10 am EST (0510 GMT) on Monday and were completed at 2am EST. His corpse was lowered toward the sea on one of the aircraft carrier's elevators.
'The body was placed in a weighted bag. A military officer read prepared religious remarks which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker,' the U.S. official said.
'After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased's body eased into the sea.'
Muslim clerics are predicting revenge attacks against American targets because of the way the government decided to dispose of the leader's body.
A wide range of Islamic scholars interpreted it as a humiliating disregard for the standard Muslim practice of placing the body in a grave with the head pointed toward the holy city of Mecca.
Sea burials can be allowed, they said, but only in special cases where the death occurred aboard a ship far from the coast.
Mohammed al-Qubaisi, Dubai's grand mufti, said about Bin Laden's burial: 'They can say they buried him at sea, but they cannot say they did it according to Islam. If the family does not want him, it's really simple in Islam: You dig up a grave anywhere, even on a remote island, you say the prayers and that's it.
'Sea burials are permissible for Muslims in extraordinary circumstances. This is not one of them.'
Other scholars said that even those who are criminals and murderers are given the Islamic rite of burial.
Dr Muzamil Siddiqi, chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America and a scholar on the legal systems of Islam, told ABC News: 'Even those who are executed have a proper burial given to them. It is strictly forbade any mutilation -- even of the enemy's body.
'God reckons with a person's deeds in the after life on judgment day. This is not a normal procedure. But if scholars in Pakistan said this is OK, it's OK.'
'Even I'm getting confused': Why has the White House changed its mind over key details of the Bin Laden raid?
White House officials have come under fire today after spokesman Jay Carney retracted key details of the raid on Osama Bin Laden's Pakistani compound.
On Monday afternoon, Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan said the terrorist joined in the fight against Navy SEALs along with several others at the Abbottabad 'mansion'.
ISLAMIC BURIAL TRADITION
Funerals in Islam follow specific rites procedures.
Sharia law (Islamic religious law) calls for burial of the body which includes a ritual where the body is bathed and shrouded followed by salah (prayer).
Cremation of the body is forbidden as most burials occur in a grave with the head facing Mecca.
The body should be lowered into the water, 'in a vessel of clay or a weight tied to its feet', and as far as possible, it should 'not be lowered at a point where it is eaten up immediately by sea predators'.
Tradition dictates that the body is washed by Muslim men and a funeral prayer is said, then it is buried as soon as possible, usually within 24 hours.
The body is wrapped in a shroud of white cloth and the face is moved toward mecca. The remains are always buried in the earth.
Similar to the orthodox Jewish tradition, bodies cannot be embalmed or in any way preserved and the coffin, if used, must be wooden. He said:'He [Bin Laden] was engaged in a firefight with those that entered the area of the house he was in. And whether or not he got off any rounds, I quite frankly don’t know.'
Also on Monday a Pentagon official said that when SEALs stormed the room he was in, he used a woman as a human shield so he could fire shots. 'He was firing behind her,' the official said.
The woman was further identified as Bin Laden's wife at a separate, off-camera briefing and was said to have died in the ensuing 'fire fight'.
All three claims have now been retracted, as today a rather sheepish Mr Carney confirmed the Al Qaeda leader did not in fact have a weapon, but 'resisted' capture.
It also emerged it was not Bin Laden's wife who died, but the wife of another compound member.
Lastly, Bin Laden's wife had not been grabbed as a human shield but was instead shot in the thigh as she rushed towards the SEALs when they entered his room.
In another discrepancy, Mr Brennan said on Monday that it was Bin Laden's son Khalid who was killed in the attack.
This was contradicted by the official White House transcript saying it was another son, Hamza, who perished in the raid.
Speaking today, Mr Carney said: 'What is true is that we provided a great deal of information with great haste.
'Even I'm getting confused.'
Who said What
Early Monday:
John Brennan: 'He [Bin Laden] was engaged in a firefight with those that entered the area'
Pentagon official: 'He was firing behind her'-referring to Bin Laden using his 'wife' as a human shield
John Brennan: Bin Laden was: 'Hiding behind women who were put in front of him as a shield'
John Brennan: 'Osama died with...the courier and his son Khalid'
Late Monday:
White House official: 'I'm not aware of him [Bin Laden] having a weapon'
White House official: 'A different guy’s wife was killed...'Two women were shot here. It sounds like their fates were mixed up.'
White House transcript: Said Hamza, not Khalid who was killed
After the hurried burial, now for the conspiracy theories
Knowing there would be disbelievers, the U.S. says it used convincing means to confirm Osama Bin Laden's identity during and after the firefight that killed him.
But the mystique that surrounded the terrorist chieftain in life is persisting in death.
Was it really him? How do we know? Where are the pictures?
Already, those questions are spreading in Pakistan and surely beyond. In the absence of photos and with his body given up to the sea, many people don't want to believe that Bin Laden - the Great Emir to some, the fabled escape artist of the Tora Bora mountains to foe and friend alike - is really dead.
U.S. officials are balancing that scepticism with the sensitivities that might be inflamed by showing images they say they have of the dead Al Qaeda leader and video of his burial at sea. Still, it appeared likely that photographic evidence would be produced.
Folk hero: Posters of Osama Bin Laden are displayed for sale at a market in Quetta, Pakistan. It's almost inevitable that the Bin Laden mythology will not end with the bullet in his head.
'We are going to do everything we can to make sure that nobody has any basis to try to deny that we got Osama Bin Laden,' John Brennan, President Barack Obama's counter-terrorism adviser, said. He said the U.S. will 'share what we can because we want to make sure that not only the American people but the world understand exactly what happened.'
In July 2003, the U.S. quietened most conspiracy theorists by releasing graphic photos of the corpses of Saddam Hussein's two powerful sons to prove American forces had killed them.
Figurehead: Al Qaeda called Bin Laden a martyr and offered no challenge to the U.S. account of his death
So far, the U.S. has cited evidence that satisfied the Navy SEAL force, and at least most of the world, that they had the right man in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
The helicopter-borne raiders that swarmed the luxury compound identified Bin Laden by appearance. A woman in the compound who was identified as his wife was said to have called out Bin Laden's name in the melée.
Officials produced a quick DNA match from his remains that they said established Bin Laden's identity, even discounting the other techniques, with 99.9 per cent certainty. U.S. officials also said Bin Laden was identified through photo comparisons and other methods.
Tellingly, an Al Qaeda spokesman, in vowing vengeance against America, called Bin Laden a martyr, offering no challenge to the U.S. account of his death.
Even so, it's almost inevitable that the Bin Laden mythology will not end with the bullet in his head. If it suits extremist ends to spin a fantastical tale of survival or trickery to gullible ears, expect to hear it.
In the immediate aftermath, people in Abbottabad expressed widespread disbelief that Bin Laden had died - or ever lived - among them.
'I'm not ready to buy Bin Laden was here,' said Haris Rasheed, 22, who works in a fast food restaurant.
'How come no one knew he was here and why did they bury him so quickly? This is all fake - a drama, and a crude one.'
Jubilation: After the announcement of Bin Laden's death, students gather at the fence on the north side of the White House, chant "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" and sing the Star Spangled Banner
Kamal Khan, 25, who is unemployed, said the official story 'looks fishy to me.'
Also expected to come out is a tape made by Bin Laden, before U.S. forces bore down on him, that may provide fodder to those who insist he is alive.
Positive identification: Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism John Brennan said the U.S would do everything possible to ensure no one can deny Bin Laden's death
To be sure, even photos and video, subject to digital manipulation, may not provide the final word to everyone.
On Monday an obviously faked picture of Bin Laden's corpse spread round the world.
But Seth Jones, a RAND Corp. political scientist who advised the commander of U.S. special operations forces in Afghanistan, said the administration should do all it can to minimize doubts.
'There are always conspiracy theories,' he said. 'There are individuals who believe that Bin Laden wasn't involved in the 9/11 attacks.'
They have little idea of what was to happen next.
Sailors from the ship that was used to dispose of Osama Bin Laden's body enjoy a day off by splashing around in the cool sea - two weeks before the crucial mission.
The seamen are unaware of the high-security planning going on behind the scenes as they laugh and joke in the clear North Arabian Sea.
Calm before the storm: Two weeks before Osama bin Laden's corpse was loaded onto their ship, sailors from USS Carl Vinson enjoy a 'Swim Call' day off
All's swell, dude: The ship's Commanding Officer, Capt. Bruce H. Lindsey, grabs his surfboard and paddles across the sea but there's little sign of any waves
Leap of faith: Soldiers leap from the side of the ship into the North Arabian Sea - the same plunge taken two weeks later by Bin Laden's corpse
Deep blue ocean: With their shirts off and dressed only in their swimming trunks, the sailors haul themselves up a rope ladder to make another jump into the cool water
Al Qaeda war lord Osama Bin Laden was to be blasted in the head by special forces after tracking him to a one million dollar hideaway in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Just a couple of weeks before the operation, on April 15 sailors from the ship had been granted a 'Swim Call' - a day off where they are allowed to relax in their trunks.
Handfuls of the sailors leapt from the deck into the North Arabia Seam, the same plunge that Bin Laden's corpse would soon take.
In the fresh water below, their colleagues floated in rubber life rings and donned diving goggles.
Even the ship's Commanding Officer, Capt. Bruce H. Lindsey, grabbed his surfboard and paddled in the ocean.
Thumbs up: Oblivious to the enormity of the impending mission, a sailor enjoys cooling off in the clear waters next to the ship
Scuba: A sailor floats in a life ring while weaning diving flippers and goggles, while right, sailors take one of the ship's smaller boats out for a test drive
Man overboard! Sailors line up on the deck to jump some 30ft into the sea below the USS Carl Vision in a 'Swim Call' day of relaxation
The sailors returned to their daily operations on April 16. On May 1 they were tasked with receiving the three Navy Seal helicopters that had returned from Abbottabad carrying the body of Bin Laden.
The officials claim photos of the body before its disposal in the North Arabian Sea also may be released. It was not clear whether the firefight in which US forces are said to have shot bin Laden to death was videotaped.
John Brennan, the White House counter-terrorism chief said that the administration was still deliberating on release of the material.
Making it public might satisfy those who would otherwise doubt that it was bin Laden who was killed.
The Pentagon's concession to conspiracy theorists demanding to see the body came as the pictures of the sailors on board the ship emerged.
