Is this photo purporting to show a dead dead Osama bin Laden a fake or real photo of the Saudi-born businessman and the world’s most wanted terrorist?
Late on the evening of Tuesday, May 3, 2011, image No1 was posted on LiveLeak purporting to be a leaked US administration photo of a dead Osama bin Laden being cradled in the hands of a US special forces soldier.
The photo ran with the caveat: “Note: Liveleak cannot confirm the authenticity of this Osama Bin Laden dead picture”
Internet observers quickly pointed out that reports from the White House had previously stated that Osama bin Laden had been killed by a single gunshot wound to the left eye, and Photo #1 clearly shows a wound above the right eye.
When the image purporting to be that of the dead Osama bin Laden is flipped horizontal nothing immediately looks out of the ordinary.
As some web commentators stated, one would expect better quality photos coming from the killing of Osama bin Laden. No doubt if he was still alive, Walter Cronkite would have been on the lead chopper.
Knowing that the White House watched the killing of Osama bin Laden live it is reasonable to suspect that any leaked image is likely at this early stage to be from the video feed. Stripping out the green “night vision” look produces Photo #3.
Photo #4 purporting to be that of a dead Osama bin Laden has had some minor enhancements to brightness, contrast and been increased in size marginally.
What do you think? Is this dead Osama bin Laden photo fake or real?
Update #1: Early on the morning of Tuesday, May 4, 2011 the US CIA issued a warning to people not to open eMails purporting to contain attached photos of Osama bin Laden dead. EMails so titled often contain a computer virus.
Update #2: This story was last updated at 07:46 local time on November 17, 2023 io include a PDF download of Osama Bin-Laden’s post 9-11 letter to the American People after The Guardian newspaper deleted it after a decade of it being online, due to Zionist pressure.
Download Osama Bin-Laden’s post 9-11 letter to the American People
Images: Live Leaks
Related:
- Osama bin Laden’s last hours come into focus as White House revises its story (The Guardian)
- US admits bin Laden unarmed when shot (ABC)
- Backlash at Bin Laden ‚”Execution” (The Jakarta Globe)
- Obama makes solemn trip to Ground Zero (ABC)
He has spent extensive periods of time working in Africa and throughout Southeast Asia, with stints in the Middle East, the USA, and England.
He has covered major world events including Operation Desert Shield/ Storm, the 1991 pillage in Zaire, the 1994 Rwanda genocide, the 1999 East Timor independence unrest, the 2004 Asian tsunami, and the 2009, 2010, and 2014 Bangkok political protests.
In 1995 he was a Walkley Award finalist, the highest awards in Australian journalism, for his coverage of the 1995 Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) Ebola outbreak.
Most recently he was the Thailand editor/ managing editor of Asean News Today . Prior to that he was the deputy editor and Thailand and Greater Mekong Sub-region editor for The Establishment Post, predecessor of Asean Today.
In the mid-80s and early 90s he owned JLF Promotions, the largest above and below the line marketing and PR firm servicing the high-technology industry in Australia. It was sold in 1995.
Opinions and views expressed on this site are those of the author’s only. Read more at About me
Latest posts by John Le Fevre (see all)
- Kaavan’s great escape photo special (video & gallery) – November 30, 2020
- A real life fairy tale: Cambodia provides sanctuary to Kaavan, the world’s loneliest elephant (video & gallery) *updated – November 30, 2020
- Death for corruption and press freedom abused as Thailand continues Nth Korean-like slide – July 23, 2015
- Thailand’s young rice farmers boost income, slash costs with switch to organic, AWD method – May 29, 2015
he isn’t dead and i believe he isn’t lets look at this in perspective Saddam was caught he face was all over tv ok he was found in a hole still he was all over tv, he was handed over and hung this was recorded and leaked all over the net and i didn’t see it banned anywhere a few day after Saddam was hung it was all over tv the picture of him with the noose around his neck…. laden where was anything apart from Obama standing on a podium announcing his death!! they threw him at sea??? why???? when you have caught a big fish like him you would publicise it to put the world at rest, why do i believe they lied? well everyone believes he was the heart of terrorism and that he controlled it, you take his face away and people feel at ease and remember what Obama said when he stepped up to president? i will do what no other president has done i will take out Bin Laden. this is my theory.
But there is another leaked photo without beard
I know this is fake, because its a shopped clip from the movie black hawk down, I’ve seen that movie enough times, and I just watched it again for proof…
The first pic would be correct if indeed it is authentic The U.S. flag does go on the left arm. I highly doubt the Seals would be wrong in which side of the head they shot. I think it’s photoshopped but Osma is dead. I see all these conspiracy theorists chiming in like idiots. The same idiots who thought 911 was a conspiracy.
Intelligence is inversely proportional to the number of conspiracy theories a person believes
How can you be so dumb to say that the ones saying osama bin laden wasnt killed are the same as the 911conspiracy believers. This picture is so fake anyways. I think Osama is dead but you don’t know ANYTHING so don’t SAY that others are wrong because you are not in anyway a person to say that someone else is wrong. If you where the person who shot him then fine.
101INFSCT Obviously you have no clue what your talking about. Yes I agree they are Mirror Images of each other. They are FAKE. And how can I prove it? NAVY SEALS wear their flag patch on their Left Shoulder not their right as it is shown in the picture you claim to be real. Right shoulder Patches are reserved for Rank Insignias and Company numbers. So before you claim something is real or not make sure you have a clue what your talking about.
When approved for wear, the full-color U.S. flag cloth replica is sewn 1/2 inch below the right shoulder seam of the temperate, hot-weather, enhanced hot-weather, and desert BDU; the BDU field jacket; and the cold-weather uniform. The flag is worn on the right shoulder, because, in the military, the “place of honor” is to a military member’s right.
the pic with the patch on the left cannot be real as if you pay more attention to the flag the stars are in the wrong corner. The left arm pic has them on the correct side. We will never know the truth….we will never have proof. Gaddafi pics are all over the place but Bin laden would be to upsetting. Nonsense
just to let you know, in the military you wear that flag ON The RIGHT arm, YES the flag will be backwards, its always like that, look at any other military member, the flag is on the right and the flag is always backwards..
I believe that Osama is not died. This is the conspiracy in Obama government. Why after killed Osama they just threw his corpse in the sea immediately? They didn’t show any evident that Osama has really death.
Actually Obama is Muslim. He has plan and make like Osama has been killed. This will make Osama free because peoples thought he was dead. That’s why they immediately bury him in the sea, because after that peoples cannot do any investigation, because the corpse has disappeared and no one can investigate it any more. If they buried it in the soil peoples still can investigate it.
Where is the proof shown that he is really died?
Now Osama can go anywhere freely. He is the real free man now, because peoples thought he is dead. No more investigation on him. Now he can live safely without worried anymore.
Actually they buried him at sea because if they buried him in the ground at a specific location there would be thousands of crazy muslims trying to find him and they would take his body and do weird stuff with it. Osama is the last person that Obama would conspire with. He took thousands of innocent American lives. You think after that they are going to just set him free. Osama deserved what he got and what he got was a body bag in the bottom of the ocean.
Josh, what nationality are you, because you do not speek very good english. I want to know because you know alot more than you should. Maybe you are telling the truth. You are very smart, you picked a very common American name, but like I said you do not speek english very well. Who are you and where are you from?????????????
umm sounds like youre defending him???? why live in the u.s? my boyfriend was (is) a marine. half of the men and women in Iraq, are republician. do you really think all of them would lie, but yet be so proud of themselves???? my boyfriend did not kill him, but he knows the truth. he is dead. all of the military forces celebrated that night. why would they fake it? so the way i see it, if you have no faith in our troops, you think they’re liers, then how bout you stand in front of them in Iraq. you defend them now. if it were not for all of our men and wemon out there risking their lives everyday to protect us, you’d be dead. as well as your family. you deserve to kiss every military familys’ feet and beg for their forgiveness. its stuck up people like you who deserve to leave our country. have faith, or leave.
Haha stop it you sound silly..yes they would be risking their lives but “we and our families” would not be “dead”..we just wouldn’t be americans..maybe something else. They fight for our freedom and our countries pride…they aren’t literally keeping hundreds of millions Americans alive.. Also clearly your boyfriend didn’t kill Obama he is a sorry marine…they’d be so lucky to carry seals equipment.
The top pics are simply a mirror image of the true photo. The flag patch goes on the right shoulder of the US uniforms. With this in mind, look at the last pics. The exact image was flipped and the patch is now on the correct side and the gunshot wound above the left eye. Simple photography….mirror image.
It’s real.
May I please draw to your attention the link posted. It clearly shows the same soldier as in the Osama picture above, but with the body of another man. This meaning that the above photograph is indeed another photoshopped image.