Osama bin Laden was digitally added to a photo of a post-9/11 Pentagon meeting
CLAIM: A photo shows President George W. Bush meeting with Osama bin Laden.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: Altered photo. The image was edited to add bin Laden. The original photo, which was taken at a Pentagon meeting the day after 9/11, shows Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz sitting where bin Laden appears in the altered version. Wolfowitz can also be seen in another image taken at the meeting from a different angle.
THE FACTS: Social media users are sharing a manipulated photo, saying it shows the al-Qaida founder meeting with Bush and other government officials.
In the image, bin Laden appears between Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of the Army Thomas White. Bush sits at the head of the table beside National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.
“PLANNING THE #911falseflag - NOTHING TO SEE HERE,” reads one Facebook post that shared the image.
But the image has been altered. Bin Laden does not appear in the original, which was taken on Sept. 12, 2001, by a photographer for Washington-based Mai Photo Agency and distributed by Getty Images. In reality, it is Wolfowitz sitting between Rumsfeld and White.
A caption for the photo as it appears on Getty Images reads: “At table Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (4L) introducing staff members to President George W. Bush (5L) at their Pentagon meeting re 9/11 terrorist attack.” The abbreviations “4L” and “5L” refer to Rumsfeld and Bush’s locations in the photo.
Additionally, the edited photo is cropped so that other government officials who appear in the original from 2001, such as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Henry Shelton and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, are not visible.
Another image from the meeting can be seen on the Department of Defense’s website. Taken from the other side of the table, it too shows Wolfowitz sitting between Rumsfeld and White.
Bin Laden, who orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was killed during a U.S. commando operation in Pakistan on May 2, 2011.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.