Prediction: the bin Laden death photos will eventually be released.

If the Zapruder film was ultimately shown not to be a national security risk and not “too much” for the American public to take, this will eventually be seen the same way. Maybe not immediately, but one day it will happen.

I think one pressure point will come from the Arab street. It appears from some of the reports I’m seeing–notably those of NBC’s Richard Engel–that dubiousness about the validity of U.S. claims that bin Laden was killed is not just the province of the lunatic fringe. In the Arab world, that may be the prevailing view.

That would be one guess as to why CIA Director Leon Panetta said last night that release of the photos was inevitable. That clearly is his preference. He was overruled for now. In the end, I think he prevails.