Have You Seen This Man?
Have You Seen This Man? used to proclaim the old Wild West Wanted posters. This isn’t quite in the same league, but:
Using sophisticated digital enhancement techniques, the FBI today published “aged progressed” mug shots of Osama bin Laden and 17 other top terrorists wanted by the U.S. FBI forensic artists produce an enhanced image of the top terrorist.
One version of bin Laden shows him with a full head of wavy gray and black hair, and a trim beard. No previous photo had shown him without a headdress covering his hair.
The second “aged processed” mug shot of bin Laden shows him with the long flowing beard that has been his trademark, although much grayer than previously seen.
Most of these pictures are from State Department’s Rewards for Justice website. See if you can spot the odd one out.
So is he dead or isn’t he? It would be a massive blow to America’s prestige for bin Laden to actually show up and be filmed somewhere – with witnesses and in some confirmable way. Odd, then, that the only way he contacts the world is through unverifiable audio recordings.
As we’ve all heard now, the US government has withdrawn the age-enhanced image of Osama Bin Laden after admitting it was partly based on a photo of a Spanish nobody called Gaspar Llamazares, a Communist deputy in the Spanish Congress.
Bin Laden is dead otherwise he would have shown himself to be alive. It suits both sides to protect the myth of him being alive, for Washington he provides a the bogeyman with which to scare us, except that it does not work.
Very true, banned. He’ll never be “found” whichever flavour of President is in the White House because it would make people look around and ask “So, is that it?” and “What now?”