Bin Laden buried at sea - a problem?

Osama bin Laden was killed is a raid by Seal Team 6 on Sunday, his body recovered and then dumped into the ocean - just where, the government won't say.

The reason given for dropping the corpse into Davy Jones Locker was to make sure there was n o burial place on land that could be turned into a shrine by al Qaeda and its millions if sympathizers. The same thought occurred to me last night when I heard the news, although I would have ordered his body cremated and the ashes scattered to the winds or dropped into the sea.

The problem with such rapid disposal of the corpse is that we have no proof that we actually did kill OBL. As I write, no one has anything but the administration's word that the deed is done. I write this not to cast aspersions on the credibility of the Obama administration, not in the slightest: I absolutely believe every word the president said last night.

But I am an American. It is less I whom the president must convince than the Muslims around the world. Of course, many will believe, but the conspiracy theories about the faking of OBL's death among Muslims countries are no doubt already being formed. As I have written before, if the Middle East, if you don't explain something using a conspiracy theory, then you haven't explained it.

It is imperative that proof positive - visual proof, not DNA test results - be made public without delay. Photos or videos of OBL's body, including facial closeups, must be released. I know that it was reported last night that OBL took a head shot from a SEAL, so, considering the weapons the SEALs use, there may not be much of a face left, or head, for that matter. But something must be released.

Update: A US official has said that OBL's skull "was blown apart." 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A U.S. official says Osama bin Laden was shot above his left eye, blowing away part of his skull.

The precision kill shot was delivered by a member of Navy's elite SEAL Team Six during a pre-dawn raid Monday on bin Laden's hideout in Pakistan.

There are many in the military who remember the furor that erupted over the release of photos of Saddam Hussein's sons, lying dead on tables in Iraq. No matter. It must be done.

Update: FoxNews says that there are photos and that the administration is determining how to release them to quash the conspiracy theories. Good to know they are thinking this through.