Politics | White House Situation Room In Iconic Photo, Clinton Is Aghast—or Just Coughing? The photo is 'riveting,' but it may be misleading By Evann Gastaldo Posted May 5, 2011 8:17 AM CDT Copied Hillary Clinton and others in the Situation Room. (AP Photo/The White House, Pete Souza) The Situation Room photo taken during the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound has quickly gained "icon" status, racking up 1.6 million views in 38 hours. On Salon, Joan Walsh called it "riveting," noting that "Hillary Clinton is beyond anguished; her hand is over her mouth, her eyes red-rimmed." But it turns out she might not have been "anguished" so much as "suffering from allergies," the AP reports. "Those were 38 of the most intense minutes," Clinton says. "I have no idea what any of us were looking at at that particular millisecond when the picture was taken." But why was her hand over her mouth? "I am somewhat sheepishly concerned that it was my preventing one of my early spring allergic coughs," she explains. "So, it may have no great meaning whatsoever." Click for another reason to be wary of the photograph. Read These Next Salesforce CEO's ICE joke leaves employees fuming. Elon Musk responds to the mass exodus at xAI. Nancy Guthrie's camera footage raises an ancillary question: how? He evaded arrest for 16 years, but his luck ran out at the Olympics. Report an error