I’ve been really intrigued by the whole Osama-getting-what-was-coming-to-him thing, as I’m sure you are. And chances are that you’ve also come across the photo of Obama and his national security team sitting in the Situation Room on Sunday. The image has been viewed over two million times on Flicker and has been re-published countless times on news websites worldwide. But just what are they all looking at?

The White House’s official flickr stream says the following about the photo:

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along 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, May 1, 2011. 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.

So what exactly is he being updated on? Well, the natural conclusion that everyone jumped to was that it was live footage of bin Laden’s death. But the official line from the White House is that this is not a photo of the final moments of Osama’s life. But it seems they also don’t really have a single, consistent narrative for what’s actually going on in the photo. I think they should find one, if only to placate the masses.

[Source: Salon]