The Truth About Bin Laden

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We finally got him, Boss.  And you can take that to the bank!

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The Iconic Meeting - THE Picture.  -  Finally... R.I.P.  O.B.L.
This is it. The Big Moment.

Really?...

We can't see a danged thing. But who cares what they're looking at?  It's enough to know that we know what they're supposed to be looking at. Never mind that they might really be reacting to the news that the kitchen is serving gefilte fish for dinner.

Originally I decided that, since a picture is worth a thousand words, I would  just publish the picture as it now is with Osama's face, laugh for a minute and then leave it, with the current headline. Nice idea, but only one thing wrong… or maybe two.

First, no sooner than I had published it and sent it out to some of my mailing list than someone wrote back immediately, asking "Where is the article? I want to know the truth about Bin Laden."

If this were a piece of fiction, the next line might be "and then I frowned..."

Maybe the picture wasn't obvious. I was trying to be clever and hide the picture's obvious joke in plain sight. Maybe I succeeded too well. I thought it was overtly obvious, and still do. So I did the most reasonable thing I could think of. I wrote back to the mailing recipient and replied, "It's a joke. Look at the picture again." I didn't hear back, so...

Second, I realized soon afterward that I was not the only one in the world who had the idea. I've seen three or four copies of the same picture, only with Bin Laden in different places, and many more with completely different happenings going on. Everyone has the same idea; not many are fooled by this picture. And some of them are hilarious. Others are pretty dull. Mine is...well, of course, great. And appropriately tongue-in-cheek. I wasn't going for the knee-slap joke. How could I, with one of the most published and iconic photos in the last two weeks? And not even my picture. But since the world perception  is that it was a staged picture, and that the White House is still insisting this event is real, that this picture is genuine, (and "real-time" at that), it is inevitable that a slew of "roasts" would follow. Mine is one of them.

I thought of having Bin Laden wear a white cloak as he does (excuse me, did…rip) in several pictures. My original idea was to fit only his head in the shot, originally on Obama's body. It was okay, but not great. It was clever but not funny. I thought of Joe Biden next, but I couldn't do it. Biden's great  bloodhound expression is too priceless to cover over. If there was ever a bored expression, Joe's got it, and it tells volumes about the actual meeting, as far as I'm concerned. Perhaps they did too many takes and Joe's starting to nod off...

I then selected Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  Osama’s face fit perfectly over Mullen’s, and I loved Osama’s  turbaned face with Mullen’s brown shirt and tie, as if Osama was some computer programmer down the hall who happened to be in on the meeting. In light of well-known knowledge that Osama was once working for the CIA, the picture as it stands seemed to make the point well. So I left it as is. There are many other similar spoofs, to be sure.

But of course I happen to like mine the best.

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For those who absolutely must know:

The Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011.

Seated, from left to right, are:

1. Vice President Biden,
2. President Obama,
3. Brigadier General Marshall B. “Brad” Webb, Assistant Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command;
4. Denis McDonough, Deputy National Security Advisor;
5. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State; 
6. Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense.

Standing, from left to right, are:

1. Osama Bin Laden, (Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff;)
2. Tom Donilon, National Security Advisor ;
3. Bill Daley, Chief of Staff;
4. Tony Blinken, National Security Advisor to the Vice President;
5. Audrey Tomason, Director for Counterterrorism;
6. a person in a beige shirt;
7. John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism;
8. James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence; and
9. a person in a black suit with a white tie. 

Note: a classified document seen in this photograph has been obscured.

(I am curious about the pictures on Hillary’s computer)

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