Osama is an icon invented for the war on terror (whether or not a real person of that name and persuasion existed). He can be compared to Emmanuel Goldstein of 1984 or to the WMDs of Iraq. That is to say, he was a focus for the anger and hatred of the American people and he served as a justification of sorts for the continued military operations in the Afghanistan/Pakistan regions, despite the extreme unpopularity of those contests. He existed only in the collective consciousness of the people.
His “killing” did not happen through a gun or bullets but through a decision to end the charade that the existence of one man can make any difference to the welfare of an entire nation. It is a symbolic step towards ending the hostilities that the American people are so tired of – before we can pull back we need to eradicate the symbol of the wars. Obviously there is no body to show, no photos to post- though they could easily have created pictures if they felt a need to, and they could have dressed up any corpse to look like this icon if they had wanted to show a body. This wasn’t necessary, because people are tired of hearing about Bin Laden as it is (obviously, I am referring to the general population of USA and not to the specific demographic found in the CR).
Bin Laden will make no further appearances. Therefore he is dead.