Obama's Osama Bin Laden Mission Captured In Historic Situation Room Pictures (PHOTOS)

The White House has released behind-the-scenes photos of the Situation Room during tense discussions of the mission against Osama bin Laden. The mission, which resulted in bin Laden's death, was announced Sunday evening.

See the historic images of President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Admiral Mike Mullen, and others discussing the dramatic raid below.

All photos courtesy of White House photographer Pete Souza.

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In this image released by the White House and digitally altered by the source to diffuse the paper in front of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, Sunday, May 1, 2011, in Washington.

In this image released by the White House and digitally altered by the source to diffuse the paper in front of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, Sunday, May 1, 2011, in Washington.

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Comments

[Robert Detelich]

02:56 PM on 05/10/2011

Has Huff post identified all people in the W.H. staff photo? I am curious about the unknown dark hair female at the rear.

[Fbigdeal]

09:52 PM on 05/06/2011

Just look at Obama's jaw there are two markings on it.. it must be the cursor of PShopped.
In fact he has 3 markings one near his nose and two on his jaw bone.

Need an expert from PS4 - (when I made this avator in PS one can see when posterized/saturated).

[meena140]

09:38 PM on 05/05/2011

If anyone is interested:

Seated, from left, are: Brigadier General Marshall B. “Brad” Webb, Assistant Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command; Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough; Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Standing, from left, are: Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; National Security Advisor Tom Donilon; Chief of Staff Bill Daley; Tony Binken, National Security Advisor to the Vice President; Audrey Tomason Director for Counterterrorism; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

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

http://www.salon.com/news/white_house/index.html?story=/news/feature/2011/05/05/situation_room_photo

[Theemystro]

06:03 PM on 05/05/2011

The President looks so intense in picture 1. Handling US business pure and simple. Getting the job done. Go Obama!

[Paul Jerome]

09:01 AM on 05/06/2011

And Biden looks like a doofus as usual.

[mallen1971]

11:36 AM on 05/05/2011

I think they're watching a tape of Bill Clinton's most recent affair, thus the reaction from Hillary.

[mallen1971]

11:35 AM on 05/05/2011

This photo is obviously a fake, Biden's eyes are open.

[Nikita007]

11:12 AM on 05/05/2011

Clinton looks as though she's watching a Hollywood B-rated horror flick - and Joe Biden looks like he's watching a tampon commercial.

[RRundbaken]

04:35 PM on 05/05/2011

I often wonder how moronic people can get. You just answered that.

[Paul Jerome]

11:03 PM on 05/05/2011

They just said on the local news that press secretary said Hillary wasn't gasping, but instead she was having allergy issues.

[Frank Bamnister]

05:58 AM on 05/06/2011

I have extremely bad allergies and I can tell you there it's no reason to put your hand on your face like that . Not sure why they need a cover story for her look? Look at Obama, I guess he just had allergies also? ? ? Why did they blur the satellite photo of the compound, when you can still tell what it is?

[pittsburghunionguy]

10:17 AM on 05/05/2011

It's interesting that the real Situation Room is so much smaller than the fake one inhabited by Wolf Blitzer.

[capesquad]

08:58 AM on 05/05/2011

From today's London Telegraph:

Leon Panetta, director of the CIA, revealed there was a 25 minute blackout during which the live feed from cameras mounted on the helmets of the US special forces was cut off.
A photograph released by the White House appeared to show the President and his aides in the situation room watching the action as it unfolded. In fact they had little knowledge of what was happening in the compound.
In an interview with PBS, Mr Panetta said: "Once those teams went into the compound I can tell you that there was a time period of almost 20 or 25 minutes where we really didn't know just exactly what was going on. And there were some very tense moments as we were waiting for information.
"We had some observation of the approach there, but we did not have direct flow of information as to the actual conduct of the operation itself as they were going through the compound."
Mr Panetta also told the network that the US Navy Seals made the final decision to kill bin Laden rather than the president.

[jsuperconductor]

09:47 AM on 05/05/2011

yep, and oh yea, If your gonna stage a photo, at least turn on the computers

[Kimgelle]

10:54 AM on 05/05/2011

This seems to be an obsession. When there has been no activity for a short amount of time the computer screen shuts down.

[morgan1]

06:11 AM on 05/05/2011

One of the propaganda articles that came out of the WH stated the video was cut when bin Laden was executed. No one in the murder room actually saw him being killed. Well, if you believe that, there is still some Brooklyn Bridge stock left to buy. SEAL Team 6 has been referred to as Murder, Inc. owned and operated for corporate and private assassination--This is a great shot of their owners and operators. What a far fall the US has taken when we celebrate (Once more) the execution and fall of another who was once our ally.

[Paul Jerome]

11:07 PM on 05/05/2011

Yes, once our ally, only to later orchestrate an attack our on country that killed over 3,000 people. But yeah, our ally.

[Siebenstein]

04:15 AM on 05/05/2011

uhh, ahh, ohh

[Susan Shaffer]

09:09 PM on 05/04/2011

anyone know who the people are in the room?
eg who is the brunette woman in the back straining to see what is going on?

[nmaddog7]

07:59 PM on 05/04/2011

Right , these photos are strictly PR psy OPs

[Nantuck Laelstom]

06:28 PM on 05/04/2011

Obama never look presidential in any of his pictures.

[HeavyHitter]

07:09 PM on 05/04/2011

Congratulations, Junior. That's possibly the most inane comment in this thread.

[sixletters]

08:14 PM on 05/04/2011

And what exactly is it about the way Obama "LOOKS" do you not like?

[Larry Andre]

06:08 PM on 05/04/2011

All the gang together watching the live stream of the execution of OBL, the only things missing are pizza and beer. Hillary looks to be the only person that is appalled by what she is seeing. All the men are looking like they are enjoying the live stream. Hey Michelle how about a beer.

[RRundbaken]

04:41 PM on 05/05/2011

Listen pea-brain, they are watching real time footage of U.S. soldiers in an extremely dangerous mission. At any moment they could watch live as one of those soldiers is killed. At the very least they are watching as other humans are being shot. But simpletons like you seem to think they are watching a video game or an episode of "24." Where is your common sense. This is as real as it gets. Because at that moment, if Obama sees one of our soldiers get killed he then has to call the parents. These people aren't machines, they are reacting to an intense, historical situation and ding-dongs like you question why the computers are off or make utterly childish remarks. This is what Fox News has done to our collective intelligence.

[Paul Jerome]

11:11 PM on 05/05/2011

Actually you are mistaken. It is the MEDIA, not exclusively FoxNews. If you claim FoxNews has damaged our intelligence, you are narrow minded and myopic.