Web Hosting Talk : Other Forums : Web Hosting Lounge : 'Captured GI' A Real Doll

[Hiccups]

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.

The posting, on a Web site that frequently carries 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.

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."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in670972.shtml

Bigger pictures of the "Hostage" and the Doll:
http://www.hundredpercenter.com/HostageisaDoll.html

Sheesh!

[BigBison]

Wow. Not even a very good hoax, the AP should be embarassed by this "scoop" and apologize to the families of real victims for their insensitive muckraking.

Great link, Hiccups!

In other news, President Bush was seen stabbing Osama Bin Laden

[TheDoctor]

Gee that is really great a real humanitarian approach. It is obvious the terrorism don't actually want to hurt anybody, all their trying to do is get a point across. What better way to get your point across than to have a bummy insead of a real person.

The real problem is with the press, if they hadn't exposed the deception then all would be well, however, now they will probably be forced into using a live person next time.

Doc

[SimonMc]

Originally posted by TheDoctor
Gee that is really great a real humanitarian approach. It is obvious the terrorism don't actually want to hurt anybody, all their trying to do is get a point across. What better way to get your point across than to have a bummy insead of a real person.

The real problem is with the press, if they hadn't exposed the deception then all would be well, however, now they will probably be forced into using a live person next time.

Doc

I think your sick You need to take some self medication.

Simon

[saj]

Just curious is there any Programmes out there that allows u to verify whether an image is doctored like in photoshop or something?

[Barti1987]

Originally posted by SimonMc
I think your sick You need to take some self medication.

Simon

Well I also think its much better that they display(and kill) dolls than real humans.... Dont you think so?

Peace,

[BigBison]

Who says this message originated with terrorists? Probably some kid with a twisted sense of humor. Folks, a terrorist seeks to cause change through violence against people. Someone threatening a doll, is not a terrorist. If they are terrorists for real, faking a hostage situation with a photo of a doll smacks of desperation, not some kind of new "play nice" tactics.

Let's not go blaming the media for "exposing the deception". Also, no high-tech methods are needed to determine the photo is a fake. Just look at it! Anyone who's bought "Commander Cody" for their kid, or heck, any kid who's played with a Commander Cody spotted this for a fake the moment they laid eyes on it, just like I did without prior knowledge of the action figure.

Terrorists kill people, not dolls! Don't expect that to change!

[hellind2]

I also believe it is a hoax of a kid, unless the terrorists are real stupid, which I highly doubt.

NOTE: The gun in the fake photo is also a toy, duh.

[SimonMc]

Originally posted by azizny
Well I also think its much better that they display(and kill) dolls than real humans.... Dont you think so?

Peace,

Your living in a dream world.

Terrorists don't terrorise dolls. They terrorise people. Usually innocent people too. Soft targets. If they can get their hands on a real live military person then all the better but it is so much easier to grab a woman aid worker for instance. That way they get the maximum amount of terror.

Simon

[Bully]

Originally posted by SimonMc
Your living in a dream world.

Terrorists don't terrorise dolls. They terrorise people. Usually innocent people too. Soft targets. If they can get their hands on a real live military person then all the better but it is so much easier to grab a woman aid worker for instance. That way they get the maximum amount of terror.

Simon

uhmmm............DUH?

[Hiccups]

I haven't heard any news about who may have created this hoax or where they are located. I don't think that's known yet.

My gut feeling is that it was done by someone who thought it would be funny and not by a terrorist. Location of the hoaxer will be interesting to hear if they ever find out who it is.

[Umbongo]

Pictures of the rescue mission can be found here:

Link

[JayC]

Here's the article I read yesterday, from the AP.

Maybe there was another article, but I didn't see anything in that one that would make me think they should apologize for it. Skepticism that there was really a hostage was clear, and the point of the article was that a claim had been made that a hostage had been taken. That was certainly factual, and it was news.

[Bully]

Originally posted by Umbongo
Pictures of the rescue mission can be found here:

Link

lmao, thanks for that

[BigBison]

Originally posted by JayC
Maybe there was another article...

The article to which you're referring was a follow-up to an earlier story. This story was widely reported by multiple wire services in knee-jerk fashion as soon as the posting was made on muntada al-ansar's website. I consider this to be an example of irresponsible journalism and (possibly, didn't check the dictionary) muckraking.

Before rushing to report such a story, a bare minimum of effort could have been put into doing some journalistic legwork, like checking with the US military to see if any soldiers had been reported missing.

Instead, the articles about the doll hoax only occurred after this story was debunked and disseminated through blogdom, and the toy company rep made his statement. Looks like the media initially bought this one hook, line and sinker.

The photo caption:

This image of what appears to be a captured US soldier was posted on an Iraqi militant website on Tuesday. (AP Photo)

The story:

Baghdad - Iraqi militants claimed in a website posting on Tuesday to have taken an American soldier hostage and threatened to behead him in 72 hours unless the Americans release Iraqi prisoners.

The posting included a photo of what appeared to be an American soldier in uniform seated with his hands tied behind his back.

A gun barrel was pointed at his head.

"God willing, we will behead him if our female and male prisoners are not released from US prisons within the maximum period of 72 hours from the time this statement has been released," the statement said.

The claim could not be verified.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/I...655941,00.html