Wednesday, February 27, 2002

According to this article on cnn.com, some members of Osama bin Laden's family have been asked to supply DNA samples, in order to determine whether Osama was killed in a recent CIA missile strike. "One of the people killed in the strike has been described as tall, dressed in Arab white robes, and treated with deference by others, leading to speculation that it could have been bin Laden." This leads me to wonder whether the bin Ladin family DNA might be compared with future detainees' DNA, under the pretense that he's undergone plastic surgery to hide his identity, as Imad Mughniyah is runored to have done. Apparently I'm not the first to have thought of this, but it also begs the question of what else DNA tests might be used for, in this new age of sacrificing personal privacy for want of security. 23:24'03    comment []