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Curious About bin Laden DNA

If they confirmed it was Osama Bin Laden's body through DNA, what did they have to compare it against? Where would they have gotten a sample of his DNA in the first place?  - Nicole, Fremont

Why they won't show the pictures I thought DNA takes weeks to get back. Also they were so quick to get rid of the body we need proof that he is dead there are a lot of people that look like Bin Laden.  - Barry, Derry, NH

Today Al-Queda confirmed that bin Laden is dead and apparently they didn't need DNA tests or photos to know. 

The U.S. government says DNA tests also proved that the terrorist leader had been killed and a lot of you are curious about that.  Officials say DNA from relatives of bin Laden was collected over the years, though it isn't saying exactly from who.  He had a large extended family including many half-brothers and half-sisters. 

As for how quickly the government got the DNA test results...well we normally think it takes weeks to do that because that's the way it is in crime labs.  It takes so long there because the labs are often handling many different requests.  But scientists say if you're testing just one sample you can get results in as little as 16 hours.  It's also believed that the Defense Dept. has technoloyg that makes the testing even faster.

Does anyone still feel like they have to see photos to believe?

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