Yes, the deathers. They’re folks who contend that Osama bin Laden wasn’t actually killed yesterday, that the whole thing is some kind of government hoax. (This is a good reason to release photographic evidence, however gruesome it may be, although photos can be Photoshopped anyway, so it might not matter.) Cindy Sheehan, the well-known Iraq War protester, says “you’re stupid” if you believe that bin Laden is dead. She, like some commenters we’ve seen around the Internet, think the “alleged” ocean burial of bin Laden is merely a convenient excuse for not having to produce a body. Maybe, over time, she’ll be convinced by bin Laden’s failure to refute his demise with a new audiotape.
A different, and much dumber, conspiracy theory, is being promoted on the Alex Jones site InfoWars.com: Bin Laden is dead, but he’s actually been dead for “nearly a decade.”
This makes perfect sense, except:
• There’s no way George W. Bush would have declined to take credit for bin Laden’s death, then just hand him over to a Democratic president to use as he pleases.
• Eighteen months before the next election is about the least “politically expedient time” Obama could have possibly unveiled the body.
• If Obama had been keeping bin Laden’s body on ice all these years, it would be so he could eventually show it off to the public, not have it quietly dumped in the ocean, sight unseen.
Other than that though …
Inside Sources: Bin Laden’s Corpse Has Been On Ice For Nearly a Decade [InfoWars]
Osama bin Trutherism is Born [Weigel/Slate]
