President Obama is right to stop publication of any of the “gruesome” death photos of Osama bin Laden. If there are people who believe that Bin Laden is still alive, no photograph will make them accept that he is not. They will assume it is a fake, just as the Americans who believe Obama was born outside the United States and is therefore ineligible to be president assume that his birth certificate is a fake. Nothing will persuade a conspiracy theorist to change his mind, especially not a photograph; for everyone today believes that photographs are easily doctored. So while the US would gain nothing by publishing one, it might have quite a lot to lose by it.

Obama has already pointed out that a photograph of Bin Laden’s blood-soaked body could be used “as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool”. But it also might provoke America’s friends almost as much as its enemies. The operation in which Bin Laden died was conducted with great courage and efficiency, but it has already given rise to an unwelcome degree of American triumphalism. The publication of a photograph of Bin Laden with half his head blown away would make this worse: it would add an impression of gloating malevolence.

The mastermind of the worst terrorist attack on American soil is dead, U.S. President Barack Obama announced late Sunday night, almost 10 years after the attacks that killed more than 3,000 people.

Osama bin Laden — the longtime leader of al Qaeda — was killed by U.S. forces in a mansion outside the Pakistani capital of Islamabad along with other family members, a senior U.S. official told CNN.

U.S. officials have taken custody of bin Laden’s body, Obama said. No Americans were harmed in the operation, he added.

Two days after the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, Osama bin Laden apparently released a new audiotape, entitled “An Address to the American People,” news agencies reported Monday.

The tape appeared on As-Sahab, the Arabic-language Web site used by Al Qaeda to deliver its messages. The recording was reported and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group and IntelCenter, two groups in the United States that monitor jihadist Web sites.

SITE said the message, which was released on Sept. 13 and lasted 11 minutes, 20 seconds, offered reasons for Al Qaeda’s attacks in New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001 and advised how the conflict between Al Qaeda and the United States might come to a close.

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A new audio message purported to be from Osama Bin Laden has urged Muslims to launch a holy war to stop the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.

The message also said Israel’s assault was a desperate attempt to benefit from the last days of President George Bush.

It also accused Arab leaders of colluding with the Jewish state.

The US has dismissed the tape, saying it shows the al-Qaeda leader’s isolation, and looks like an attempt to raise money.