When people hear "conspiracy", they normally think of shadow governments, impossibly complex plots, Illuminati, or Matt Damon. The word is associated with a stigma of irrational thoughts and paranoia that generally makes a lot of people automatically shut down whenever they start to hear anything even resembling the concept. I can't say that I blame them. From chemtrails to lizard people, there are any number of ludicrous conspiracy theories that really aren't worth any of the stress and time people put into them. Yet still they do, and there will always be people who subscribe to them for one reason or the other.

That's not to say that conspiracies don't happen- sometimes they totally do, and they end up getting revealed for different reasons. One famous example was the CIA's project MKULTRA, which experimented with the idea of brain manipulation and control- particularly with LSD.

It's important to realize that conspiracies do happen occasionally. I don't think that they are the complicated, ambiguous, and open-ended plots that many people associate them with, though. In fact, sometimes they are done with arguably good intentions. Keep this in mind, because it's an important part of what I'm going to say.

On May 1st, 2011 at 11:35pm (EST), United States President Barack Obama gave a nine minute televised speech stating that Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden had been shot and killed by a Navy SEAL strike team in Pakistan. While most of the nation rejoiced and made drunken fools of themselves on live newsfeeds throughout the country, I went online to find some more information. The first thing I tried to do was find a postmortem photograph of the body- not out of a sense of morbidity or triumph, but because I wanted to see evidence of it myself. I'm a natural skeptic like that. I was quickly surprised and dismayed by the fact that there were no photographs. Considering how big of a deal this was, evidence of the fact just seemed like the next natural step. I spent about the next ten hours paying close attention for any details that might emerge and writing an article on how I displeased I was with the lack of evidence. During that time Bin Laden's body was reported to be dropped into the ocean- before the DNA test was complete. And a fake photo of Osama's body that was being shown on the news in Baghdad was called into question. The photo turned out to be fake.

The next day I was still watching out for pictures or evidence, and none arose. Though, CIA director Leon Panetta said that photos would be released, also saying:

"The bottom line is that, you know, we got bin Laden and I think we have to reveal to the rest of the world the fact that we were able to get him and kill him"

That night I started writing another article. I was pissed that our government still hadn't released any pictures. At that point the White House had made statements about their apprehensiveness to release pictures, but they were for completely insubstantial reasons. One of the reasons they gave was that the pictures were "gruesome", as if it was their responsibility to coddle us and censor us from violence. This does not in any way seem like a rational reason to keep evidence about an important event away from the nation- let alone the entire world. As John Stewart said on the subject:

"Too gory ... yeah ... have you met us? From 8 p.m. on, every show on television that we watch begins with an internal tracking shot of a gaping wound above someone's eye, pulling out to reveal half a hooker in a dumpster discovered by a child on a bicycle. You know what we call it? 'Prime time.'"

The other reason they cited was that the pictures could be antagonizing to potential terrorists- but that's a bullshit scapegoat argument. This is a country notorious for not negotiating with terrorist- that is to say that generally speaking we don't give a damn what they think, and if they don't like it they can go straight to hell. The other problem with the logic to that argument is that those same potential terrorists are surely already pissed. Al-Qaeda isn't going to get more angry just because we release postmortem photos of a man they already think is dead. And if they do, again, who cares? Certainly not the general American public. We feel safe because during the last nine years our intelligence and military prowess has done a damn fine job of keeping the violence against us outside of our own borders.

In that article I brought up Abu al-Zarqawi, the reported leader of the Iraqi Al-Qaeda, and how after assassinating him we released pictures. They weren't released as trophies, they were released as procedural evidence. By the time his body had been given away to be buried, well more than 24 hours had passed.

I concluded the article by saying that by that time, simple photographic proof would no longer be substantial to all the people who held doubts about the White House's truth on the matter. I basically said that if they even wanted to appear to care about whether we trusted them or not, they would need release (surely existing) footage from the raid.

After I published that article online, that footage was said to have existed in the form of recordings from helmet mounted cameras on the Navy SEAL strike-team.

It was later announced that these expensive and technologically advanced helmet cams somehow mysteriously malfunctioned specifically during the time of the raid. That same day, President Obama announced that photographic evidence of the incident would not be released.

Like many others, I was confused and frustrated. All over the media, news sources are questioning these decisions by the White House. Why would the government be so secretive about this event? What do they possibly have to gain from keeping any proof from us, and why would they not care that it is affecting the people's trust? Let's face it, the U.S. government isn't stupid. They suffer from a few problems and a lot of in-fighting, sure- but they're not stupid. I'm confident that they wouldn't cite such silly reasons for not giving us photographic proof of Osama's death, or do contradictory things that would inspire so much doubt about their honesty- unless they had a damn good reason. I am about to tell you that reason.

I obviously do not have proof yet, but I am confident that this is the only logical conclusion. When I came to this conclusion, I thought long and hard about whether or not I should pursue exposing the truth in this matter. We have been lied to, but for legitimate reasons that have our own best interest in mind. In the end, I realized that to compromise my ethics would be unacceptable. I am a firm believer in Truth, and even if I believe in the reasons for it, I don't think it is okay for the government to lie to us outright. If it's okay this time, than we imply that it is okay for them to do it at other times. This lie may be harmless for us, but how bad does it have to finally get before we eventually stand up for ourselves and say that lying to us as a nation is not okay? That lying to the world is not okay? And what if it's too late by then?

I say no. The Truth must be uprooted and showcased for all to see, because we are not sheep. (Some of you are, but hey, what can really be done about that? Nothing, usually.)

Osama bin Laden is not dead. Yet.

As the leader of Al-Qaeda, a group we are still at 'war' with, Osama bin Laden is the single most valuable holder of information on the planet in that respect. To simply assassinate him would be incredibly poor foresight on the part of our war efforts. It would be irreversible and incredibly self damaging to simply eradicate him. When the people who planned the Bin Laden raid got together, I'm sure that it was absolutely imperative that they secure Osama alive unless he were a direct threat to a soldiers life, which he wasn't. Odds are really good that they assembled the most efficient and possessional strike team they could, and equipped them with the best equipment possible. You better believe that when they did that they had more intentions than just killing him only to not prove to anybody that they had.

No. Osama bin Laden is almost certainly alive, and will be until they extract every bit of information from him that they can. Why would they hide this? Because our government- believe it or not- is not made up purely of a bunch of incompetent, irresponsible dickheads. There's only one way that we can reasonably hope to get that sort of information from that sort of person, and our government calls it "Enhanced Interrogation".

Torture.

The government is lying to you about Osama bin Laden's death because they have to interrogate him for information in order to better service the defense of the American people. It is for your protection.

Can you imagine the repercussions if word were to get out that Osama bin Laden was being held captive and unconstitutionally interrogated? Imagine the court hearings. Imagine the jihads. Imagine the Al-Qaeda members willing to go to any lengths to make us release him- they would kill innocents all over the place- because that's what they do.

However.

I am not okay with being lied to by our government for any reason, and neither should you. What can you do about it? Be angry. Spread the word. Spread this article. Write your local politicians. Anything.

The only way this could truly be exposed is if it's done quickly by the people actually getting their shit together and doing something about it. Unless they are in on it, the United Nations would investigate this if it became apparent that it was a possibility. If too much time passes though, the evidence will be gone. The government will kill Osama when they are done (and possibly take pictures of his body to "leak" to the internet) and destroy the body. It will be too late, and all because the apathetic assholes here in this country couldn't think enough for themselves to question the bullshit being laid out in front of them.

Please guys. Be angry.

---------------------------Update 5-11-2011--------------------------

So a new development has come up, in which Osama bin Laden's family is calling shenanigans as well. Omar bin Laden, the son of Osama bin Laden- has released a statement on behalf of him and his family expressing their disdain for the lack of information and evidence regarding Osama's death.

The entirety of the statement can be read here.

"I Omar Ossama Bin Ladin and my brothers the lawful children and heirs of the Ossama Binladin (OBL) have noted wide coverage of the news of the death of our father, but we are not convinced on the available evidence in the absence of dead body, photographs, and video evidence that our natural father is dead. Therefore, with this press statement, we seek such conclusive evidence to believe the stories published in relation to 2 May 2011 operation Geronimo as declared by the President of United States Barrack Hussein Obama in his speech that he authorized the said operation and killing of OBL and later confirmed his death.....

......Most importantly, when it is a common knowledge that OBL's family is residing at one place outside KSA, why they were not contacted to receive his dead body. His sudden and un witnessed burial at sea has deprived the family of performing religious rights of a Muslim man"

I think that last part is really important. It puts a lot of stress on the impromptu claimed burial of Osama, particularly when considering that the given reason for it was that it was out of respect for traditional Islamic funeral rites. So not only does that reasoning contradict previous times where we've assassinated Islamic extremist leaders, but but it contradicts itself because a fundamental part of the process was completely bypassed.

"Without agreeing to the ways of OBL as to how he professed, believed and operated, We Omar Ossama Binladin, and my brothers, the lawful children of the Ossama Binladin (OBL) herewith demand an inquiry under UNO to reach to the accuracy of the facts....

....Failure to answer these questions will force us to go to International forum for justice such as International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice and UN must take notice of the violation of international law and assist us to have answers for which we are lawful in seeking them. A panel of eminent British and international lawyers is being constituted and a necessary action may be taken if no answers are furnished within 30 days of this statement."

Omar has shown himself on numerous occasions to be a fairly intelligent and well meaning individual. He has publicly opposed his father's ways and actions many times, and has constantly exhibited support for peace between the Islamic and Western world. He's not doing this as a vengeful "Fuck you!" to America for his father being taken from him, he's doing it because the event goes against examples previously set by our nation and it's ideals, and his family feels that whatever happened, it was particularly unfair to them- and they want answers.

: Special thanks to Michaelas10 for bringing this to my attention, just when I was about to give up on the whole thing because I thought that nobody was going to care about the lack of evidence. He has implied doubts about my conclusion, but it's good to see that some people have been paying attention, nonetheless.