Some say U.S. must prove bin Laden's death

WASHINGTON, May 3 (UPI) -- The mother of a Sept. 11 victim is among the skeptics who question whether U.S. Navy SEALs killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and buried him at sea.

Stella Olender of Chicago, whose daughter Christine Olender died Sept. 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center, said she doesn't know if the al-Qaida leader is really dead, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

"To me that seems strange, that they disposed of it (the body) and no one (besides) whoever was right there knows what happened," she told the Times.

Olender and skeptics on both the political left and the right are insisting that bin Laden is either alive or has been dead for years.

Since the announcement of bin Laden's death Sunday night in the United States, Internet blogs have been humming with allegations that the Obama administration faked the middle-of-the-night raid.

The buzz has placed the United States in a quandary over proving that the terrorist leader is dead.

"Unless there's an acknowledgment by people in al-Qaida that bin Laden is dead, it may be necessary to release the pictures," said U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Ind-Conn.

Lieberman said photos would be gruesome because bin Laden was shot in the head.

Obama administration officials have to figure out a way to prove bin Laden is dead without inflaming his supporters and the broader Muslim world, the Times said.