9/11 Victim's Brother: Why Was Bin Laden Buried So Fast?
NILES, Ill. (CBS) -- While the nation celebrates the news of Osama bin Laden's death, it provides just small comfort to those who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, 2001.
George Talhami of Niles lost his twin brother in the World Trade Center that day. He said bin Laden's death reopened wounds, and made him question why the body was dispensed with so quickly.
"The way the United States handles it sometimes doesn't make sense," Talhami said. "They seem to have already buried this guy and done what they've wanted with his body without really showing anybody anything; just coming on the air one day out of the blue and letting us all know they supposedly killed this gentleman."
He said the choice to bury bin Laden at sea has denied Americans the opportunity to see proof that U.S. forces really caught him.
"I wish that they would not bury this guy or put him out to sea. I sort of feel like they should have kept his body and maybe brought it home to show everybody that they killed him, as opposed to pictures and all this other stuff that they're going to do propaganda-wise to show us they got this gentleman," Talhami said.
U.S. officials say they matched bin Laden's DNA with that of his sister to confirm his identity, and that he was buried at sea both in keeping with his faith, and because the nation didn't want to give him a memorial site.
Talhami but questions why bin Laden deserved to have a burial in keeping with his faith.
"I sort of believe they did get him, but why give him any just cause? Why are they treating him like a normal person when he's not?" Talhami said.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., says sinking bin Laden's body at sea was a sound strategy.
"We denied al Qaeda a burial site, a meeting ground," he told reporters Monday night.
