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The photo is characterized by dramatic tension and the importance of the moment which shows Barack obama, Joe biden, Hillary Clinton and other U.S. officials following the raid that would end with the death of terrorist Osaba bin Laden, who claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001.
Security and defense officials gathered in the situation room on May 1, 2011, after Barack Obama approved the operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where the terrorist was suspected of hiding.
When the helicopters took off from Afghanistan in the city, during a 90-minute trip, officials gathered in a narrow chamber side where he Brigadier-General Marshall Brad Webb monitored the action on a laptop, communicating with the head of Special Ops, Bill McRaven, who was in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, overseeing the mission of the SEAL team, and with the head of the CIA Leon Panetta, connected from the headquarters of the CIA in Langley, Virginia.
In a corner of this small room and not in the main situation room, the White House photographer Pete Souza took the photo that went down in history as the picture of the situation room.
The photo captures a defining moment in history and reflects the tension of those present before listening to it: Gernimo (code name Bin Laden) EKIA (enemy killed in combat).
Then, who are the main culprits, how they experienced the moment and where they are now.
In the first row, seated from left to right.
Joe Biden, Vice President
Biden, Obama’s vice president and later president-elect, performed his prayer beads as he watched events unfold. The then vice president had been cautious about the raid, Obama recalled in his memoir. Moreover, he later explained that he advised to wait just to make sure it was the right decision.
When the SEAL team confirmed that Osama was dead, the vice president grabbed Obama’s shoulder, squeezed it and said quietly: “Congratulations, boss”.
Barack Obama, President
Obama had decided in his first term that he wanted to bring Osaba bin Laden to justice. He wanted to remind the world that these terrorists were nothing more than a bunch of deceived and vicious assassins.
In the photo, he is shown in the clothes he had used that morning to go golfing and thus not arouse suspicion. In order not to distract his team, the president stayed out of the operation until the helicopters reached the town where bin Laden resides. This is why Obama in the photo appears seated in a lateral position.
It was the first and only time as president that I had seen a military operation unfold in real time.he wrote later. When one of the helicopters landed, the sequence of the disaster crossed my mind. Wait and see, he wrote, it was insupportable.
Today, the operation is considered one of the greatest achievements of his presidency.
After leaving the presidency, Obama continues to intervene in the public debate. He was a frequent critic of the Trump administration. Later, supported the White House race of its former Vice President Joe Biden.
Marshall B. Webb, Brigadier General
In the photo, Marshall Brad Webb, an Air Force General, seated in the center of the table, watches the live stream of the video and oversees all communications with Special Forces. When Obama entered the small conference room from the main situation room, Webb tried to give him his seat, but the president told him to stay where he was.
When he lifted his head to look around and see all the top officials in the land, Webb later remembered thinking he must be panicking right now. Instead, he remained calm.
He is currently the Commanding Officer of the United States Air Training and Education Command.
Denis McDonough, Deputy National Security Advisor
McDonough, involved in planning the operation from its early stages, was sweating the details, Obama recalled.
The official appears seated, while his boss Tom Donilon stands behind him. Perhaps an indication of his growing influence in the administration, as McDonough would become Obama’s chief of staff during his second term.
President Joe Biden has appointed McDonough Secretary of Veterans Affairs in his administration.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State
Hillay Clinton’s gesture in the photo was perhaps the one that most reflected the moment of almost tangible tension and anxiety experienced by the silent group of senior officials.
It was 38 of the most intense minutes, Clinton recalled later. The risks were enormous. The Secretary of State had supported the decision to continue the raid.
Clinton feared the president would follow the show. Do you think it’s a good idea for the president to see this? I asked a member of the national security staff. The Secretary of State expressed concern about the consequences of a possible failure of the Obama presidency.
At the end of Obama’s second term, Clinton won the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2016. She was the first woman to win the popular vote in a US presidential election, losing to Donald Trump.
Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense
Gates was against the conduct of the raid on Abbottabad, preferring to use bombs to completely destroy bin Laden’s compound, an option he considered safer. Nonetheless, he called the president’s decision to continue the operation courageous.
Gates retired in 2011, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor, from President Obama during his retirement ceremony.
After leaving government, Gates served as president of the Boy Scouts of America from 2014 to 2016. He is currently president of the College of William & Mary and a member of various boards.
In the second row, stand from left to right.
Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
If he had failed that night, I think it would have cost Obama the presidency, Mullen said, recalling the moment.
Admiral Mullen retired from the Navy after more than 42 years of service. Since 2012, Mullen has been a visiting professor at the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
Thomas Donilon, National Security Advisor
Like Clinton, he suggested that the President not communicate directly with McRaven on Jalalabad to prevent Obama from being too involved in the failure of the mission. It was at Donilon’s suggestion that Webb and his video feed were moved to the smaller conference room.
After leaving the government in 2013, Donilon was president of the Commission for the improvement of national cybersecurity, appointed by Obama and vice president of the international law firm OMelveny and Meyers.
During Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, Donilon was co-chair of the Clinton-Kaine Transition Project, as foreign policy leader.
He is currently Chairman of the BlackRock Investment Institute, the global think tank of the American multinational investment firm.
William M. Daley, White House Chief of Staff
Daley is the only man in the room in a coat and tie, thanks to his wife’s insistence on recognizing the memorable nature of the day.
Either way, either this presidency is over or we’re still breathing, I remember thinking.
For Daley, the surgery had been the right decision. The next morning he woke up and realized that if I was fired today, everything would be fine.
After his job at the White House, he ran for Chicago mayor in 2019, but came third in the first ballot. He was then Vice President of BNY Mellon Bank from June to October 2019.
Since November 13, 2019, Daley has served as Vice President of Public Affairs for multinational financial services firm Wells Fargo.
Antony Blinken, national security adviser to Biden
When the picture was taken shine was a stranger in the political world of Washington.
Shortly after the iconic photograph of Souza was posted, David Letterman interviewed Mullen on his famous show and, showing off the photo, joked Blinken. Who is this boy? Obviously, this has no place in photography. Did you just come back from the White House tour?
In 2021, he was appointed secretary of state in the Biden administration.
Audrey Tomason, Director of Counterterrorism at the National Security Council
The second woman in the room and the youngest member of the group, Tomason made a name for himself after the photo. However, her figure has remained shrouded in mystery, due to the reserved nature of her work for the National Security Council.
John Brennan, President Obama’s National Security and Counterterrorism Assistant
Brennan, along with Donilon, was in charge of planning the raid on Abbottabad.
You keep coming back to your mind over and over again, not only what you have done so far, but also what was going to happen the next day, making sure you were sure that all possible aspects had been taken into account, a- he said.
Brennan also admitted that it was a risky operation and that the minutes looked like hours.
But as the president said, even though the odds were 50%, it was a much, much better chance than the United States had previously had to catch Bin Laden, he said. It was absolutely the right risk to take at the right time.
Brennan was director of the CIA from 2013 to 2017. Currently, Brennan is Senior National Security and Intelligence Analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.
James R. Clapper, Director of National Intelligence
Clapper had defended the mission, arguing that with at least one raid there would be people on the ground who could judge whether Bin Laden was indeed there.
Until the last minute, we couldn’t confirm he was there, Clapper recalls.
Since May 2017, he has been a senior intelligence and national security member of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) think tank.
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