New Controversy Bobs Up With Sea Burial of Osama bin Laden

Did the United States cede the moral high ground when it dumped Osama bin Laden's body into the ocean? The decision by U.S. forces to bury the terrorist kingpin at sea has roiled the Arab street.

Muslim clerics told the Associated Press Monday that bin Laden's sea burial was a violation of Islamic tradition that may further provoke militant calls for revenge attacks against American targets.

Although there appears to be some room for debate over the burial -- as with many issues within the faith -- the AP said a wide range of Islamic scholars interpreted it as a humiliating disregard for the standard Muslim practice of placing the body in a grave with the head pointed toward the holy city of Mecca.

Sea burials can be allowed, they said, but only in special cases where the death occurred aboard a ship, the AP reported.

A U.S. official told the AP that the burial decision was made after concluding that it would have been difficult to find a country willing to accept the remains. There also was speculation that a land grave could become a rallying site for militants.

Al Jazeera said bin Laden's final resting place was the north Arabian Sea.