![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/dead-bin-laden-photo-is-fake1.jpg\" "\\"Dead")
<\/a>What looks like a composite photo of the dead bin Laden. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n
Eleven days after the 2011 US elite forces raid that resulted in the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, the head of US special operations ordered the destruction of all photos of the corpse or for them to be given to the CIA, new evidence shows.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The disclosure was revealed Monday in an email obtained and released by non-profit legal group Judicial Watch via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The heavily-redacted email was sent by Admiral William McRaven, head of US Special Operations Command, to subordinate officers on May 13, 2011, instructing them that any remaining photos of Bin Laden\u2019s body must be destroyed or handed over to<\/strong><\/span> the CIA<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. Bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011 at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by the special operations team commonly known as Seal Team Six during Operation Neptune Spear.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n In the email, addressed to \u201cGentlemen,\u201d<\/em> McRaven wrote, \u201cOne particular item that I want to emphasize is photos; particularly UBLs [Usama Bin Laden, as US military referred to him] remains. At this point \u2013 all photos should have been turned over to the CIA; if you still have them destroy them immediately or get them to the [redacted].\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The order to purge the photos came 11 days after the conservative government transparency organization Judicial Watch filed a FOIA request with the Defense Department seeking \u201call photographs and\/or video recordings of Usama Bin Laden taken during and\/or after the U.S. military operation in Pakistan on or about May 1, 2011.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Judicial Watch finally accessed the McRaven email as a result of a June 7, 2013 FOIA request and a subsequent lawsuit against the Defense Department that sought the materials.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The group notes that the first time McRaven\u2019s order was mentioned came during a 2011 draft report by the Pentagon\u2019s inspector general focusing on any special treatment afforded to filmmakers working on \u201cZero Dark Thirty,\u201d<\/em> the <\/strong><\/span>award-<\/strong><\/span>winning<\/strong><\/span><\/a> 2012 <\/strong><\/span>fil<\/span><\/strong><\/span>m<\/strong><\/span><\/a> about the hunt for bin Laden after the September 11, 2001 attacks. No mention of the order was made in the inspector general\u2019s final report.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Judicial Watch eventually filed FOIA lawsuits against both the Defense Department and the CIA, arguing that federal law prohibits the \u201cconcealment, removal, or mutilation generally\u201d<\/em> of government records.<\/span><\/p>\n