Group Sues Feds for Bin Laden Pics

The Hill reports:

Judicial Watch is suing the Department of Defense to obtain photographs of Osama bin Laden's dead body, the watchdog group announced Friday.

“I don’t think it’s as big a deal to release the documents as the administration suggests. It’s quite simple: They should be released,” said Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, in announcing the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.

Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Pentagon on May 3 for the photos of bin Laden's corpse and videos of the covert raid by Navy SEALs in which bin Laden was shot dead. Fitton said the group received a letter from the Defense Department Thursday saying the agency could not comply with the request.

“In other words, the DoD has no intent to comply with FOIA,” Fitton said.

Under FOIA law, the administration has 30 days to respond to Judicial Watch’s lawsuit. Fitton said he was confident that Judicial Watch’s lawsuit would trigger a “substantive” response — and ultimately the release of the photos.

“In the end, I think these documents will be released, but it’s a shame that we have to go through this process to get access to this basic information and force compliance with FOIA,” he said.