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What's wrong with this picture . . .



. . . is that it was taken in Culver City, California and not in Iraq.

The photo above originally appeared in a Los Angeles Times story about a DEA raid on a medical marijuana clinic, but if you go there now, you won't find it. Without comment, the LA Times pulled it down a few hours later, but not before hundreds of bloggers had copied it and published it.

At this point [early Sunday evening], however, only one mainstream media source --The Salem [OR] News--has mentioned the photograph.

Take another look.

The implications here are staggering. Law enforcement agents are required in operations like this to wear clothing that correctly and obviously identifies them--it's a major safety factor. So that rules out some DEA or Culver City PD show-off wearing a Blackwater T-shirt for kicks and grins.

Why and how did the photo disappear from the LA Times website?

Where's the national coverage by the mainstream media?

What about the timing of the raid??

Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrived about noon at Organica Collective in the 13400 block of Washington Boulevard, said Sarah Pullen, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles office of the agency.

"Marijuana remains a controlled substance, and it is illegal under federal law to possess, dispense or cultivate marijuana in any form," Pullen said of the purpose of the raid.

The federal operation came on the same day an appellate court in San Diego ruled that federal law does not preempt the state's law allowing the use of medical marijuana -- a ruling touted by supporters of California's medical marijuana law as a significant win.


Where's Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Where's Bob Barr? John McCain? Barack Obama?

Monday morning will tell, but I'm afraid all I'm going to hear is the resounding echoes of silence, as another little bit of the US Constitution tatters into dust.

[h/t ElNinosMom at Last Free Voice]
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Anonymous said…
The DEA is claiming that the agent was a DEA agent and not employed by Blackwater.
August 4, 2008 at 8:47 PM
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