AP gets snookered on story.... falls for toy soldier as "kidnapped"

[TryingToWarnYou]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050201/D87VU1582.html

Web Site Claims GI Captured in Iraq
Feb 1, 3:03 PM (ET)

By ROBERT H. REID

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi militants claimed in a Web statement Tuesday to have taken an American soldier hostage and threatened to behead him in 72 hours unless the Americans release Iraqi prisoners. The U.S. military said it was investigating, but the claim's authenticity could not be immediately confirmed.

The posting, on a Web site that frequently carried militants' statements, included a photo of what that statement said was an American soldier, wearing desert fatigues and seated on a concrete floor with his hands tied behind his back. The figure in the photo appeared stiff and expressionless, and the photo's authenticity could not be confirmed.

A gun barrel was pointed at his head, and behind him on the wall is a black banner emblazoned with the Islamic profession of faith, "There is no god but God and Muhammad is His prophet."

A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, Marine Sgt. Salju K. Thomas, said he had no information on the claim but "we are currently looking into it."

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

Now the funny part... the image of the captured soldier is a toy.

Please compare the image on the AP site with the following image from www.monkeydepot.com, a full blown military miniatures site.



It's the same figure.

Here is the AP image.



I sure hope Fox and the others run with this... ROFLMAO!!!!

[Spinzonner]

1. Is this the same one George plays with ?

[RaleighNCDUer]

29. No, no, no! It's very clear that this is a toy.

Georgie plays with real soldiers.

[Speck Tater]

2. What a scandal it would have been...

...if they had used a Barbie doll!

[Ian David]

3. Has Associated Press figured this out yet??

On-edit: Yes


'Captured GI' A Real Doll


(AP) The U.S. military said Tuesday that no American soldiers have been reported missing in Iraq after a Web statement claimed that an American soldier had been taken hostage.

But the authenticity of the statement and photo could not be verified, and Liam Cusack, of the toy manufacturer Dragon Models USA, Inc., said the image of the soldier portrayed in the photo bore a striking resemblance to the African-American version of its "Cody" military action figure.

"It is our doll ... to me it definitely looks like it is," Cusack said. "Everything the guy is wearing is exactly what comes with our figure."

He said the figures were ordered by the U.S. military in Kuwait for sale in their bases, "so they would have been in region."

<snip>
The figure in the photo appeared stiff and expressionless.

More:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/01/iraq/main670972.shtml

[LSparkle]

4. You are effing KIDDING ME!

AND THE AP FELL FOR THAT CRAP? Oh boy, we are REALLY paranoid!

[Ian David]

5. Swift Vote Veterans blame Kerry for G.I. Cody's harsh treatment

Somehow, I bet Limpbaugh is going to blame Dan Rather for this.

[LSparkle]

9. LOL!!!

[DRoseDARs]

39. I wonder if he has bled enough to earn a Purple Heart yet... n/t

[Tinoire]

6. Not just AP. Reuters etc...

This story went from 3 articles when I googled to about 325 in less than 15 minutes.

This isn't funny though because this came from a web-site that "frequently" carried militant statements in the past. Makes you wonder just how many charades have been perpretrated on a gullible public since this group had a name and was already 'guilty' of having kidnapped a Brazilian engineer etc...


Now there are 423 stories with but the last 100 or so are

US Military says no soldiers are missing in Iraq (Wow- that was a QUICK headcount)

and UPI Moonies laughing their heads off with their headline:

Kidnapped soldier actually toy figure?
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42654

[trogdor]

28. Quick headcount? Easy.

Call all the commanders and have them give you a sitrep. Any MIA's in the last, say, 48 hours? No? Good.

[fob]

7. OMG!! That's terrible, they got a Special Ops toy Soldier!

[Ian David]

8. Actually, I heard he was rescued by Buzz Lightyear of Star Command

But only after negotiations with Brainy Smurf broke-down.

From WorldnetDaily:

A photograph distributed by the Associated Press appearing to show an American soldier held at gunpoint by Muslims terrorists in Iraq might actually be an image of a toy action figure, according to comparisons making the rounds on Internet message boards.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42654

Ahhh, I get it...

MORE INTERNET CONSPIRACY THEORIES!

Bwhahahahaha!

Once again, the bloggers do the media's jobs FOR them.

------
GI hostage's mother pleads for son's life
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/2005/02/004897print.html


A new development in the hostage case Drudge is covering...
http://cnn.worldnews.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=CNN.com+-+U.S.+military%3A+No+soldier+missing+in+Iraq+-+Feb+1%2C+2005&expire=03%2F3%2F2005&urlID=13075944&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2005%2FWORLD%2Fmeast%2F02%2F01%2Firaq.hostage.ap%2Findex.html&partnerID=2006
JihadWatch.org
Posted at February 1, 2005 05:06 PM

[uppityperson]

11. you're fast

[TryingToWarnYou]

14. ROFLMAO...you owe me a new monitor!

[Ezlivin]

37. Worse than that: They've commandeered Aisle 5

Throw open the front doors, we need an exit strategy!

[uppityperson]

10. GI hostage's mother pleads for son's life.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/2005/02/004897print.html
(can't figure out how to post the picture)

[Ian David]

12. Uh-oh... they have another hostage...

America out of Iraq now....



Or we shoot this kitten.

[Tinoire]

13. Here...

Right click on the photo. Go to Properties... Copy that link and paste it

[uppityperson]

17. Ah, properties, not just copy then paste. Another frustration gone!

Thanks. I'll see if I can remember this.

[Hobarticus]

15. Notice no finger in the trigger guard, or hand holding it?

Unless it's one of them there fancy levitating self-firing rifles I've been hearing about.

Wow. That took all of three seconds to ID as a fake. Good to see the media's hard at work.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Swamp Rat]

20. No, they are getting smarter and smarter.

They are continually evolving and using whatever they can. This was another successful attack on "American soil," so to speak. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of newspapers and political forums have been fooled by or occupied with this psychological warfare/terror attack.

[porkrind]

24. Good point.

This was low-tech propaganda and it looks like it worked. I wonder who they will fire (ala Dan Rather) over this?

[uppityperson]

18. My 16 yr old took about 2 seconds to figure it out, including blinking.

Best laugh I've had in a long time.

[Rapcw]

19. lol wtf, it doesnt even look real!

and why does he still have on all his combat gear? And the rifle, and his face look so fake lolz

[Moderator]

21. TryingToWarnYou

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
copyrighted news source.


Thank you.

DU Moderator

[TryingToWarnYou]

22. Sorry, thought that only applied to LBN....

:-)

[Skinner]

23. Underpants spotted this around 2:00PM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3039754

I wonder if he was the first?

[Beetwasher]

30. FUNNIEST FUCKING THING EVER!!!

Bwahahahahaahahahahaahahahahah! Can the US media fall any lower?

Love this!

Breaking news! Insurgents capture US soldier in Iraq! (w/ apologies to Neo who posted it first!)

[kodi]

44. you mean this email attachment I just got is not real either?

[mom cat]

25. Just wishing that this whole war was about toy soldiers..not real people.

[Willy Lee]

26. It looks to me like the "gun" is laying on the ground.

A little photo trickery. The "soldiers" legs appear to be on what is really the wall, while he is sitting on his back with a toy gun setting next to his head.

[Liberty Belle]

27. Too funny! I'm giving a talk tonight on the need for media reform.

This might make a great visual prop, don't you think?

The AP needs a refresher course in Journo 101.
How is it that the right wing berates Rather for running the Bush National Guard memos without authenticating them first, yet the AP gets away with running a photo of a missing DOLL?

ROFL.

[Canuckistanian]

31. I expect there will be some resignations now?

And an investigation? And FAUX news shows demanding the head of the AP writer?
What will we tell the children?

[XemaSab]

32. Another thing that ID's it as fake...

Look at the fabric, and how it's rolling at the side and has a few big creases in it. A big piece of cloth would weight itself down.

It's the McJihad playset!

[Serial Mom]

33. Fire all involved at AP, Reuters, cable news that picked this up

FIRE everybody involved for making bogus claims on faulty information gathering - just like those at CBS.

:evilgrin:

[TOOLZ]

34. And we'll still be chuckling when we see a real soldier held hostage

"Heh heh heh...uhh. Hmm."

This is so funny to us because of the comic relief it allows all of us. We're so getting our asses wailed on there, our best sons and daughters are there as either sitting ducks, forced to kill or wound innocent civilians, or resorting to bad leadership and group pressure and committing torture and atrocities.

But not Cody. He was a good soldier. He didn't deserve this.

[uppityperson]

35. Will Cody get a purple heart?

[outrage]

36. Generally I have a wonderful sense of humor, but...

I don't find anything funny about this at all. Whoever dreamed up this hoax needs their ass kicked. Maybe in a decade or so I could laugh; not now. Kidnappings and beheadings are not funny to me.

[mtnester]

38. Another heinous abduction...

[melissinha]

40. Shows the intelligence of the MSM

Now we KNOW... we can't trust the AP or the MSM... they can't show true news about BushCo atrocities but they'll give us this crap.... now all the good gun-toting GI Joe collecting guys will be given a little glimpse of the stupidity.

[DefenseLawyer]

41. Since the soldier is fake, are the "Iraqi militants" fake too?

How can you assume that this hoax was perpetrated by actual Iraqi militants? Anybody could have faked the whole thing, fake website, fake insurgent group. I have no idea one way or another, but if it is a hoax, couldn't the whole affair be a hoax?

[SmokingJacket]

42. Right -- where does the fakeness end??

Btw -- I love the way the gun experts were analyzing what kind of gun that two-inch piece of plastic really was.

[V Lee]

43. Does anyone make realistic Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld etc. dolls?

Seems like you could have some fun with them.

"I see Condi Rice on top of a pile of nude dolls!"

[d_b]

45. Is that snake eyes?

[Gloria]

46. Where's the outrage? The Investigations? The firing of

the producers???? When does Peter Jennings retire????