More like this
Beatrice’s hat: real reason Bin Laden photos withheld
White House was worried internet pranksters would crown Osama body with that royal wedding hat
President Barack Obama's protestations that the photographs of Osama bin Laden's dead body are too gruesome for squeamish Americans have been swatted aside by the US defence secretary Robert Gates, who says the "primary reason" was because internet pranksters couldn't be trusted not to Photoshop Princess Beatrice's comical royal wedding hat onto his mutilated head.
At a meeting with US marines in North Carolina, Gates acknowledged that the pictures themselves - which have so far been offered for viewing only to members of Congress - would upset jihadist fans of Bin Laden. But he added, according to Politico, that "we were also worried about the potential for manipulation of those photos and doing things with those photos that would be pretty outrageous".
Gates went on: "The primary reason I think that the president made the decision he did was not only to protect our troops, but also to protect other Americans who are living abroad... because if these photos were misused, then the danger of them inflaming reaction we considered to be very real."
Illustrating his point, Gates referred to the now famous picture of himself and other members of the national security committee watching the operation to kill Osama bin Laden from the White House Situation Room. Within hours of the photograph's release, Photoshopped versions of it were all over the internet, including the one (above) in which everyone is wearing the Philip Treacy hat Princess Beatrice wore to the royal wedding.
"I have gotten from friends all over the country copies of this iconic picture taken in the Situation Room while we were watching the operation," said Gates. "They have been Photoshopped in every way you can imagine, including putting all of us in one of these big, wide-brimmed hats from the [royal] wedding."
Wide-brimmed? Octopus-shaped, more like. ·
Comments are now closed on this article
Comments
The geek who doctored the above picture should prepare him or herself for multiple waterboarding sessions in the national security interest.
Then showing Obama's face could be a threat to national security. Imagine the consequences of somebody Photoshopping on a hat?
The words ex-President George W. Bush waited nearly a decade to hear came from his successor in the middle of Sunday dinner.
"Obama simply said, 'Osama Bin Laden is dead,'" the 43rd President recalled this week in Las Vegas.
His response, after hearing details of the successful Pakistan raid: "Good call."
Ther you have royalties and presidents all in one I thank you Firozali A.Mulla Incidentally the praises come after the topling to buy more time Politics that is it politics. I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA
Nothing could be more outrageous than a US assassination in a sovereign country without their knowledge. Nothing could be more outrageous than said assassins pumping two expandable bullets into the head of an un-armed man. If we are to consider ourselves to be civilized, we need to recognize the rule of law. Without proper judicial process, we will never know the truth and a of US 'cover-up' will remain a possibility.