U.S. officials describe the photos as "gruesome" and "graphic."
They reportedly show Osama bin Laden’s bloodied body in an Afghan hangar with a massive head wound above his left eye from the shot that had killed him earlier in the day.
The accompanying video is less gory, officials say, but may be just as inflammatory. It allegedly shows bin Laden’s lifeless body draped in a white shroud before it is placed in a weighted bag and deposited into the North Arabian Sea from the deck of the USS Carl Vinson.
CIA director Leon Panetta said tonight that U.S. officials are preparing to release photographic proof of bin Laden’s death, though he did not say when.
"The government obviously has been talking about how best to do this, but I don’t think there was any question that ultimately a photograph would be presented to the public," Panetta told "NBC Nightly News."
Panetta’s statement was the first indication a photo would be released. U.S. officials had been debating for days whether it was appropriate to make photos or videos of bin Laden’s dead body public.
"There’s no question that there were concerns and there were questions that had to be debated about just exactly (what) kind of impact would these photos have," Panetta said. "But the bottom line is ... 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."
A Taliban spokesman expressed skepticism today the al Qaeda leader had indeed been killed.
U.S. officials are debating whether to release photos of the body of terror leader Osama bin Laden, pictured here in this 1998 file photo.
"America has not shown any evidence or proof to support this claim," the Taliban statement said.
It is unclear if additional video or audio of Monday’s raid on bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan can also be released. The Navy SEALS involved in the firefight were reportedly wearing helmet cameras that recorded the fighting.
Some families of 9/11 victims called on the government to release the photos and video to verify bin Laden’s death and silence conspiracy theorists.
"There are always going to be questions and people who do question such things as this. I feel it may be appropriate to quiet these questions," said Sally Regenhard of the Bronx, who lost her 28-year-old firefighter son in the World Trade Center collapse.
It would not be the first time the U.S. has released images of enemies killed in military operations. In 2009, photos of the bloodied corpses of Saddam Hussein’s sons, Uday and Qusay, were made public after a U.S. raid on a house in Mosul, Iraq.
At the time, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the Iraqi people "deserve that confirmation."
This time, the questions are more complicated. Will images of bin Laden’s dead body incite more terrorism? In the age of Photoshop and digital manipulation, can a photo or video really serve as proof of a death? And when grisly images are released, do media organizations have a duty to publish them?
Shaheen Ayubi, an international politics professor at Rutgers-Camden, said distributing photos of bin Laden’s dead body could have a variety of effects in the Middle East.
"I don’t think it will affect those who are educated," said Ayubi, a native of Pakistan and author of several books on Middle East politics.
But the photos could inflame the masses, especially bin Laden’s fellow Wahabi Muslims, the professor said. Some may view an image of a dead body as a violation of the sect’s customs.
"Historically speaking, they don’t like photos being taken," Ayubi said.
Other experts said the benefits of releasing the photos and video outweighs the danger of upsetting Muslims.
"I don’t know if it’s really going to make the situation any worse. It will upset some people — but those people are already upset," said Wojtek Wolfe, a Rutgers-Camden professor and author of "Winning the War of Words: Selling the War on Terror from Afghanistan to Iraq."
An image of bin Laden’s dead body could become "the most seen photograph in contemporary history," Wolfe said.
Charles Bierbauer, a former CNN White House correspondent and dean of the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies at University of South Carolina, said the photo’s place in history may be less prominent than some are predicting.
"Those who want to put it on t-shirts and march through the towns of Pakistan will do so," Bierbauer said. "It will fade after time."
U.S. officials also have little to lose if they release the video recorded by the Navy SEALS of the firefight at bin Laden’s compound, said Fred Pushies, the author of several books about military special ops teams. It is unlikely the footage of bin Laden’s shooting would give away any military secrets.
"As far as seeing the videos or the pictures of these guys kicking the doors in and taking him out, you’re not going to see anything you won’t see in six months when Hollywood makes the movie," Pushies said.
