The U.S.: Better at Shooting Than Informing

The Google search “bin Laden picture dead” results in 90 million hits. It’s just one illustration of the world’s hysteria surrounding “the proof,” the picture that once and for all will sweep away all doubt.

Another illustration is the Facebook virus that spread almost before the helicopters had time to take off, by promising fresh pictures from the raid. A third are the American politicians who had already explained that indeed they had seen pictures of a dead bin Laden — pictures that have since been proven to be fake.

It’s a little pathetic that we still — 20 years after the launch of Photoshop — have such great faith in pictures as evidence. On the other hand, the day that Barack Obama stands in the Oval Office beside a picture of a dead al-Qaida leader, won’t we all in any case receive “closure” on 9/11, which so many, especially in the U.S., are searching for?

Not a chance. Not even if Obama visited the homes of every conspiracy theorist in an open carriage drawn by black horses and placed bin Laden’s corpse on their doorsteps, not everyone would be convinced.

This is the basis of conspiracy theories. It doesn’t matter what “evidence” you produce, we still know that you are lying.

But the shilly-shallying around the pictures; first they would be released, then not — was a perfect way to encourage the tin foil hat wearer’s jubilation that the raid gave rise to. Especially in the light of all the hair-raising information failures — bin Laden was armed, oh no, by the way, he wasn’t. He used a woman as a human shield — or maybe not.

It never ceases to amaze — the world’s only superpower can track down one man among seven billion but is unable to explain what happened when they found him.