"In perfect response," ToSeek? I disagree.
Consider The Politics of Science and JPL's "Catbox" Enhancement of the Face on Mars by Lan Fleming, an engineer with Johnson Space Systems.
And his NASA Report.
Like you, Fleming ignores any NASA-enhanced images other than the original one. All the NASA image he refers to does is remove the vertical stripes and enhance the contrast. The broad, bright stripe at the center he claims is an artifact of processing is in fact clearly visible in the raw image and is only enhanced by histogram stretching.
His link is also not to where the image first appeared - as indicated on the page itself, the PPJ version didn't go up until the day after the image was released. The link I supplied was where it appeared originally. I know this because I was waiting for it on the day, and that's where I found it.
Another source of better-processed versions of the image is
here.
OK, but they apparently established good reasons for wanting to go there to begin with. Instead, the public got the "trick of light and shadow" explanation and Cydonia was ignored until a public outcry almost 20yrs later.
Unfortunately, thanks in large part to shuttle development, there was no money for another Mars mission until Mars Observer in the early 90's. I think also the negative results of the Viking life science experiments greatly diminished any interest in further exploration.
And then what did they get? A premature "unmasked" face and the "incompetence" explanation.
It's only the ETHers who complain "incompetence," to which I reiterate: They wanted quick-and-dirty, they got quick-and-dirty, they have no right to complain.