Matthew J. Mason

January 21, 2010

Remember my post last week asking whether the FBI had an intern do its “Bin Laden aged” photos? The truth is worse:

The FBI is in hot water after using a Spanish parliamentarian’s picture to create a ‘What would Osama Bin Laden look like now?’ image. The photo, released last week, took parts of United Left party lawmaker Gaspar Llamazares’ face and combined them with an older photo of bin Laden, to create the digital image — and Mr. Llamazares is not amused.

“Apologies are not enough,” he told a news conference at Spain’s parliament after the U.S. ambassador issued an apology Monday. “I want a thorough investigation into this disgraceful case, which not only causes concern but also worry and indignation over the behavior of the FBI.”

The FBI claimed the new bin Laden image was created with “cutting edge” technology. However, after the comparison was made, the Bureau admitted that it had taken a photo of Llamazares’ 2004 campaign poster off Google Images. FBI Spokesman Ken Hoffman told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, “The forensic artist was unable to find suitable features among the reference photographs and obtained those features, in part, from a photograph he found on the internet.” Sometimes, the warnings about taking things off the internet come embarrassingly true.