By Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat
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Why is DNA not enough?
"Bert" Moreira the former governor of Coahuila and brother of the current governor is not one I usually turn to for truth in reporting, however with that disclaimer intact I will say that he has stated in recent interviews that Lazca was living in Progreso and allowed to roam freely as in other citizen often without guards.![]()
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No Body No Death
There was no body, though the government announced the tyrant dead. They backed their claim with a few photos and firsthand accounts of eye witnesses. The nation’s president weighed in “Scientific evidence proves he is dead” continuing he said “we photographed the corpse, he has been 100% identified, it is unequivocally him”.
Lazca?
President Filipe Calderon?
Nope, it is Osama Bin Laden, and President Barack Obama.
About his decision not to release the death photos Obama said this on 60 Minutes; "We've done DNA sampling and testing. So there's no doubt we killed Osama bin Laden,” "And I think Americans and people around the world are glad that he's gone. But we don't need to spike the football."
Mitchell A leading forensic expert in the country told the Free Press that confirming Bin Laden's identity, which couldn't be done by DNA alone, was "very much a classic forensic case."
"A little bit of DNA, facial recognition, eyewitness testimony -- it all came together”, he said in response to the question is a body needed for identification.
Holland, the former DNA technical leader at the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory said the DNA may have been the clincher but wasn’t enough on its own for a positive ID.
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| First Photo says Obama: "Let me get this straight you can't find the body of Lazca?... hahaha" Second photo Calderon says "Maybe it is next to the body of Bin Laden..." |
First and foremost there was no known DNA sampling of OBL. Secondly. there was no way to obtain a sample of OBL's parents.
Holland elaborated by explaining there was no DNA for comparison from OBL parents, and that is the optimal testing for identification. Siblings will not be a perfect match and some siblings can have few matching strains. In a case where there is DNA but no body, DNA testing between siblings will result in clarification of sibling relationship, and nothing more. Holland says DNA plus photo recognition, fingerprints, and witness accounts is the most optimal identification when there is no body.
Greater credential’s one will not find than those of Holland. It was he who identified the remains of the Vietnam Unknown Solider, Lieutenant Michael Blassie, and the last Russian Czar Nicholas Romanov.
Another prestigious forensic expert is Dr. Cyril Wecht, who has been the president of both the American Academy of Forensic Science and the American College of Legal Medicine, and currently heads the board of trustees of the American Board of Legal Medicine, has gone on record stating, ”Working through siblings, you can only go so far ...” . He stressed that scars or dental impressions would go towards identification if lacking all other elements.
Dr. Holland stressed the point that he does in fact believe that it is OBL killed and whose body was buried at sea. He based that conclusion on the sibling DNA in conjunction with photo recognition testing and eye witness account.
What about El Lazca?
This week an article was published in the Saltillo newspaper Zocalo with the provocative Tittle “El Lazca, No Body, No Certainty”. The article was picked up by narco blogs but not by mainstream media. Zocalo is a Coahuila Newspaper, often rumored to be directed by cartels, namely the Zetas, and heavily in support the PRI party.
If the article was written 3 decades ago perhaps it would be substantive to a point. Mexican newspapers are written for Mexicans, and Mexico is a developing nation where the majority of its people are not educated to the facts of forensics and declaration of death sans body. “Unnamed sources” is the lowest denominator of proof and reality. With that being established, Zocalo reported this:
At the same time, the PGR points out “ the genetic analyzes of the father of "El Lazca" were made by the experts of the institution; however, expert service workers of the Attorney Office assured to this newspaper that they do not carry out the study of DNA of the progenitor of Lazcano, nor are they holding the samples taken in Coahuila, they only have the result of the autopsy, the corpse’s photographs and fingerprints”.
"Until we see the body, no one in the world can prove scientifically that the fingerprints submitted, is evidence that the deceased was Lazcano. Nor can they actually prove that the samples were taken from the exhibited corpse. There is no way of checking, even if they have exhumed the remains of the drug dealer's father. If the government says otherwise, they are lying, said forensic experts who requested anonymity”.
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The emphasis on “only” is editing as was the underlined text. Point being, only an autopsy, fingerprints and photos, keep in mind the words of leading forensic scientists about OBL. The fact that PGR took custody of the sampling rather than leaving the evidence with Coahuila is a huge plus in credibility.
Zocalo continues with its novela:
“On Wednesday 17, in a news conference, Jose Cuitláhuac Salinas, head of the now renamed Deputy Attorney Specialized in Investigation of Organized Crime (SEIDO) reported that it was impossible to locate the brothers of the drug trafficker to extract DNA samples, so the PGR requested the exhumation of the remains of the parents of Lazcano Lazcano, buried in the cemetery of El Tezontle, Hidalgo”.
This part of the report is curious if not absurd:
What is the most likely thing that could’ve happened?
“If we don’t have the complete evidence we fall in speculation, thinking that Heriberto Lazcano might now be a protected witness”.
"Lazcano might have made an agreement to enter the witness protection program in the United States. What good does the evidence do if it is doubtful if they were planted or supplanted? Lazcano himself could have given all the elements: his fingerprints, his blood, his DNA. So the only reliable test that would have is the body and it does not appear, "said an expert in criminology and forensic science who asks to remain anonymous.
So there you go folks! Mystery solved
They also question the exhumation, as well as suggesting a body double and concludes that an unnamed expert says the fingerprints were conducted in a “tricky way”
According to The Zocalo, State and federal agencies conspired with the government of the United States to stage Lazca’s death so that he will enjoy a life in the US and abroad in the witness protection program. Many comments and questions come to mind, but let’s begin with this;
WHY?
The fact is that Lazca was in Sabinas (Progreso) for months, beginning last spring. This BB reporter was advised last June not to include the Sabinas CAM school in the invitations to a prom in Acuña, as violence could break out at any time due to a premier narco leader now living there. People knew he was there, his girlfriend’s family lives there, and a rumor, not confirmed but would explain a lot if true, says the Garcia funeral parlor was owned by the brother of Lazca’s Girlfriend.
"Bert" Moreira the former governor of Coahuila and brother of the current governor is not one I usually turn to for truth in reporting, however with that disclaimer intact I will say that he has stated in recent interviews that Lazca was living in Progreso and allowed to roam freely as in other citizen often without guards.
Why would state agencies and federal agencies conspire, especially since they don’t even like each much, if there existed this amazing conspiracy why have a state agency involved at all? Then we move to the extraordinarily ludicrous notion it was the United States and Mexico that conspired to fake his death.
If there is a conspiracy why not say there is DNA on file of Lazca?
Why not say they had a full set of fingerprints on file?
Why not say they had familial DNA on file?
In other words why not make it a whole lot tidier? There is no reason why the US would place a mass murderer on the streets of the US to work his horror on the citizens of the US. No reason.
There exists a far greater reason for the controversy. Zetas want the questioning of Lazca's death. They want to cause confusion especially within their rivals CDG and CDS. This allows time to regroup.
So let’s take another look at what the experts surmise is the only method of identification:
Best method of identification in the event there is no corpse
1. DNA match between child and parent
2. Finger print match or palm
3. Photographs
4. Autopsy
5. Facial photo recognition or reconstruction
6. Eye witnesses verification
By these accepted standards and protocols of leading forensics experts, by all the evidence set forth there is not a doubt that if there exists a Lazca DNA parental match that he is in fact dead.
However using the same protocols is Osama Bin Laden in fact alive and well, and possibly in the United States of America in the Witness Protection Program?
I better not give Zocalo any ideas.
