>>>Now there is a phrase that leaves me undernourished. This story is unfolding. How did that part happen?
>>>.
>>
>>They said they respected Islamic tradition - i.e. buried the same day.
>
>That's not true. Buried same day is not an islamic tradition. There isn't any tradition about days for funeral in islam. We don't bury at sea. We just bury at land.

This is inaccurate then:

http://www.al-islam.org/laws/burial.html
623. * If a person dies on a ship and if there is no fear of the decay of the dead body and if there is no problem in retaining it for sometime on the ship, it should be kept on it and buried in the ground after reaching the land. Otherwise, after giving Ghusl, Hunut, Kafan and Namaz-e-Mayyit it should be lowered into the sea in a vessel of clay or with a weight tied to its feet. And as far as possible it should not be lowered at a point where it is eaten up immediately by the sea predators.


Anyway, by all accounts, he was already deceased before reaching the ship (unless that's not true), so he should have been buried in the ground.

Update, Imam Khalid Latif , chaplain for New York University and Executive Director of the school's Islamic Center, has an interesting view:
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/02/my-take-burial-at-sea-shows-compassion-of-islamic-law/?hpt=T2

I will defer to the Iman as religion is his area of expertise...

And more news: they may release the video of the burial at sea and possibly photos:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/osama-bin-laden-sea-burial-video-released/story?id=13508657
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=219011
.