By now, the story and picture have spread like wildfire, creating quite a lot of laughter as they went. Why, because this was a clean-cut case of Photoshop-created government gaffes exposed.
Last week the FBI released an age-enhanced photo of Osama bin Laden, trying its best to depict how the terrorist mastermind may look in 2010, nearly 9 years after he vanished upon the United States' invasion of Afghanistan. However, one man is fuming mad at the photo, and it is not bin Laden.
Spanish politician Gaspar Llamazares, in a statement made on Saturday, accused the FBI of using his face as the “clean-shaven bin Laden.” Llamazares called the image “shameless use of a real person to make up the image of a terrorist.” Llamazares added that he would no longer feel safe traveling to the United States.
In a statement released later the same day, the FBI said that it was aware of the similarities between Llamazares and the age-enhanced bin Laden. The FBI goes so far as to admit that “the forensic artist was unable to find suitable features (of bin Laden's) among the reference photographs and obtained those features, in part, from a photograph he found on the Internet.”
Oops!
In light of the controversy, the FBI has removed the image from its Web Site. However, that may not be good enough for Llamazares, who is still demanding an official explanation.
Despite being a member of Spain's communist party and supporting such things as publicly condemning the Pope, Llamazares is worried about terrorism, saying that “what we're seeing from security services isn't exactly recommendable.”
Definitely not the FBI's proudest hour.
As for coming to the U.S., should Llamazares be worried? Probably not. After all, this is the nation led by a man who bashes his own country, has vowed to close Guantanamo Bay and other overseas prisons, banned harsh interrogation, and who has given constitutional rights to terrorist thugs like 9/11 mastermind Kalid Sheik Mohammad.
If anything, if Llamazares were to come to Washington with today's Democratic leadership, he would probably get the red (emphasis: red) carpet rolled out for him.
For more info:
Llamazares' Web Site (excellent photo for comparison on opening)
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