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Hey Internet, remember when, just a few days ago, you SO BADLY wanted the White House to release the photos of Osama Bin Laden’s blood-stained, bullet-ridden corpse? Well guess what? As it turns out, the White House didn’t release the photos because it knows all too well exactly what you would have done with them.
President Barack Obama’s decision not to release photos of a dead Osama bin Laden was driven in part by fears that the images would be electronically altered and “misused” in a way that could drive anti-American anger, protests and attacks on U.S. personnel abroad, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.
“One of the things that I think concerns Secretary [of State Hillary] Clinton and I is the risk not only of the pictures themselves inflaming people who were bin Laden’s adherents and radical extremists, but we were also worried about the potential for manipulation of those photos and doing things with those photos that would be pretty outrageous in terms of provoking a reaction that might in fact put our troops at greater risk in both Iraq and Afghanistan,” Gates said during a town-hall-style meeting with Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
But wait, it gets better! It appears that all those crazy photoshops of the already iconic White House Situation Room photo that were floating around is actually what tipped off officials to the fact that if they released the death photos, internet shenanigans just might ensue.
Gates said his concerns about releasing the bin Laden photos were dramatized by Photoshopping of an official White House picture taken of Obama’s national security team while they were monitoring a live video feed of the operation in which Navy SEALs ultimately killed bin Laden.
“I have gotten from friends all over the country copies of the picture that was this iconic picture taken in the Situation Room while we were watching the operation. And they have been photoshopped in every way you can imagine, including putting you know, coming after the royal wedding, one of these had all of us in one of these big, wide-brimmed hats from the wedding. Another had various football players seated at the table that had been photoshopped in,” Gates noted.
Football players? I haven’t have seen that one! Regardless, you shot yourself in the foot this time, Internet. You really shot yourself in the foot.
(Photoshops via here and here and here and the entire freaking internet)
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I did the football player one with Texas A&M football players, since Sec. Gates is the former President of Texas A&M.
[a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net]
@Thomas Campbell, Nice job (making me hate A&M) even more!
@Thomas Campbell…Awesome job man. I’m adding it to this post.
@Thomas Campbell
Guitarsoup on Hillary’s binder? Light googling suggests this is an Aggie thing.
WHOOP!
Why would that be a concern? they photoshopped (illustrator) obama’s birth certificate AND the whitehouse photos were a staged photo op – they weren’t actually watching “live feed” they were posing for a photo shoot. Invading countries would NEVER inflame people as much a s few photos would. hahah.
That’s a bogus excuse. The internet can do anything with pictures they already have of him to such an extent without worry so why not one more?
I did the superhero pic, although that particular one may not be mine. It’s similar.
Shot ourselves in the foot, but still worth the lulz
Wow, never thought about it like that before.
http://www.anon-toolz.se.tc
Photoshop,,,you mean like his Birth Certificate, that kind of Shenanigans? And who in the HeII uses words like that anymore? Or We got a good “Shalacing” in the 2010 elections? Sounds like this administration is trying to sound more “Mature”…AS IF!!
They didn’t release it because they know people will manipulate the photos like the white house did with Obama’s birth certificate. If it is an original, it shows that his daddy was a Kenyan under UK rule and his momma wasn’t of legal age to bestow US citizenship on him; making Obummer a UK citizen. That still doesn’t explain his Conneticut issued social security number nor his Indonesian passport that he used before he became a senator.
You means like the White House and Obama did with his 3rd Birth Certificate which has been found to have 50 layers of informaiton when there should only be one?
Can you birthers please go back to wherever the fuck you came from and never come back here.
The WH had nothing to fear about “photo manipulation”, if the folks who manipulated them were the same boobs that forged Barrys birth certificate. Most children could do better!
probably all the same guy using multiple aliases. loser
I don’t understand why birthers don’t understand that the child of a US citizen is a US citizen by jus sang.
This is why we can’t have nice things, internet!