A California diver is taking the hunt for Osama bin Laden, now deceased, to new depths.
Bill Warren plans to embark on a diving trip to recover bin Laden’s body himself, the New York Post reports.
“I’m doing it because I am a patriot American who wants to know the truth,” Warren told the Post. “I do it for the world.”
Bin Laden was buried at sea after he was killed May 2 by U.S. forces in a Pakistani compound north of Islamabad.
Of course, the Obama administration’s decision not to release a post-mortem photo of bin Laden has sent skeptics into a frenzy, questioning how they can be sure bin Laden is really dead. A number of lawmakers admitted to falling for a “fake” bin Laden death photo, and a number of fakes have circulated around the Internet.
Count Warren among those who believe the U.S. should have released a photo.
“The Obama administration should have released the photo, like we did with Billy the Kid, or [John] Dillinger, or even Saddam Hussein,” Warren told the Post. “I have a Russian girlfriend, and she tells me that over there, in intelligence circles, they don’t believe bin Laden’s really dead.”
Beyond the photo, Warren told CNN he is “mainly” searching for bin Laden’s body “to see if he is really dead.” If Warren happens to come across bin Laden on the ocean floor, he plans to photograph the body and perform his own DNA test.
According to the Post’s estimate, Warren wills spend about $400,000 on his quest. Warren — apparently an experienced salvage diver — is confident it will pay off.
“There’s never been a shipwreck I didn’t find,” he said.
Read more here.
David Taintor
David Taintor is TPM’s News Editor. He contributes to TPM’s Livewire coverage, among other areas. David is from Chanhassen, Minnesota, where, yes, it gets very cold. Reach him at taintor [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
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