The Pentagon and the CIA will explain by Sept. 26 their legal reasoning for not releasing photographs and videotapes of the May 1 raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
A schedule submitted to Judge James E. Boasberg of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia calls for the government to file its key motion by Sept. 26 against a suit by Judicial Watch, Josh Gerstein reported Thursday on Politico. Judicial Watch is seeking images from the raid under the Freedom of Information Act.
Judicial Watch’s president, Thomas Fitton, said he doubts his group will see any of the bin Laden materials without a court order, Gerstein reported. “We won’t find that out until Sept. 26, but practically speaking the government has let us know that they’re going to withhold everything,” Fitton said. “I think we will get what we are requesting—at least eventually.”
DOJ spokesman Charles Miller said the filing doesn’t indicate that the government will release any imagery of the bin Laden operation. “All it means is that we will file a brief on Sept. 26 articulating our position,” he said, according to Gerstein.
Soon after the raid, President Barack Obama said he didn’t want to release pictures from the raid for fear they would be inflammatory.
