10 May 2011

White House bin Laden situation room: where’s Hillary?

Hillary Clinton is “airbrushed” from a picture showing White House staff watching the mission to kill Osama bin Laden. The image was changed by a Jewish newspaper which does not print photos of women.

White House bin Laden situation room: where's Hillary?

A Jewish newspaper described as “ultra orthodox” has apologised after removing Hillary Clinton from a photograph of White House staff watching the raid on Osama bin Laden via video feed.

The paper said: “Because of laws of modesty, we are not allowed to publish pictures of women, and we regret if this gives an impression of being disparaging to women, which is certainly never our intention.

“We apologise if this was seen as offensive.”

White House bin Laden situation room: where's Hillary?

In the image above you can see the space where the US secretary of state was actually sitting in figure 2. The other missing person is Audrey Tomason, President Obama‘s director of counter-terrorism, in figure 1. Below you can see the original photo.

The now-famous image was modified for religious reasons by Der Tzitung which has a policy of not printing photos of women. The White House had expressly stated that media should not change the picture in any way.

White House bin Laden situation room: original photo.

The official photograph was issued on 3 May by the White House showing Obama and his team watching the mission which led to the terror leader’s death. In the pictures President Obama is shown with Hillary Clinton and counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan.

Mr Brennan later described the tension in the meeting room. He said: “There was a fair degree of silence as the operation progressed.

“Minutes passed like days and the president was concerned about security of his personnel.”

President Obama is believed to have declared “we got him” when the confirmation came through that bin Laden had been killed.

Situation room super heroes. (Photo: Twitter/@hebrewzzi)

Superheroes?

The Jewish paper image was not the only creative “re-imagining” of the White House scene. This picture, posted by @hebrewzzi on Twitter, depicts Obama’s inner circle as a bunch of superheroes.

Hillary Clinton becomes Wonder Woman, while the president sits in a suit of blue as Captain America, flanked by Batman, Superman, Spiderman and the Green Lantern. The computer screens in the joke image appear to show a frame from an action computer game.