WTH?

by digby

Here’s some profiling for you:

The FBI says it will take down an updated wanted poster of Osama bin Laden, after a Spanish lawmaker protested that his photo had been used to make it.

The lawmaker says he was “surprised and angered” when he found out his hair and facial wrinkles were used to create a digitally enhanced image of what the al-Qaida leader might look like today.

Gaspar Llamazares calls it “shameless.”

Both men are 52. But Llamazares says he has “no similarity, physically or ideologically, to the terrorist.”

He told reporters in Madrid that he wouldn’t feel safe traveling in the U.S. now, because many airports use technology that compares the physical characteristics of travelers to other photographs.

In a statement sent to The Associated Press, the FBI said its artist was “unable to find suitable features among the reference photographs.” It says features used in the updated image of bin Laden came, in part, from a photograph found on the Internet.

The image was posted on the State Department’s terrorism rewards Web site.

You’d better hope you don’t have a passing resemblance to a criminal because if they can’t find a recent picture, they’ll just use yours.

That poor Spaniard probably would get tackled by some yahoo every five minutes if he comes to the US. After all, it would be irresponsible not to.

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