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Local Judge Says U.S. Should See Bin Laden Photos

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - President Obama says the White House won't release the photos of a dead Osama bin Laden, saying there's no need to "spike the football"

But a prominent Detroit judge says it's something the U.S. should get to see.

WWJ reporter Vickie Thomas spoke with U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Damon Keith of the Sixth Circuit who believes photos of Osama bin Laden should be released.

"I think it's important in an open society so that everyone will know with finality that this thing is at closure. There'll be some problems with them but I think the best side would be to show them and let the world know that we are an open society and he is indeed gone," he says.

In terms of a potential terrorist attack, Keith says he does not live in fear. "I'm not a person that goes around being scared. Our country will take care of us," he says.

Meanwhile, those graphic online photos that show a dead Osama bin Laden are becoming popular, but U.S. officials say they're fake. President Barack Obama had said Wednesday that there was no reason to release the real images.

One fake photo in particular has become widely distributed. It shows a bloodied bin Laden with a missing left eye, and he's grimacing as if he died in pain.

(Copyright 2011. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All Rights Reserved.)

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