The Helmet Cam Shot of Killing of bin Laden (With One Catch)

The catch is, it’s an animation created by CBS based on the real thing.

So great is the push to see everything that went down in Abbottabad, CBS News has turned the raid into what looks like the first draft of a video game. In the meantime, Senator’s can’t stop talking about — and in doing so, painting a picture of the photos being withheld by the government, from the shots of bin Laden’s corpse to a series of images that purportedly document his burial prep and disposal on/from the U.S.S. Carl Vincent.

In the meantime, I’m now dying to know how “true-to-helmet cam” this frame from the CBS recreation is as opposed to how much it’s sexed up, one Seal giving the bear hug to two identical shapely babes, while his partner shoots around another young woman to get their man.

On first pass, one might say this kind of drama and sensationalism is further reason why the helmet cam video, like the stills, should absolutely not be released.  On the other hand, given the “prying eyes,”  “no secrets” and also the “we’ll just fill the vacuum with our own pictures” mentality permeating the media, D.C. as well as the internet (as the page views of fake photos of bin Laden’s corpse and recreations like this pile up), I could also imagine more discussions at the White House and the Pentagon about the cost-benefit of releasing actual images simply in the name of clarification.

…Also notice, by the way, how the SEO geniuses at CBS didn’t even quality their title  (“Helmet cams captured bin Laden raid”) to indicate their story is primarily about an animation, as opposed to the real thing.  Link/video.