Web Site Claims GI Captured in Iraq

My Way News ^ | February 1, 2005 | ROBERT H. REID

[Peach]

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 posting, on a Web site that frequently carried militants' statements, included a photo of what appeared to be an American soldier in desert fatigues seated with his hands tied behind his back.

A gun barrel was pointed at his head, and he is seated in front of 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."

A statement posted with the picture suggested the group was holding other soldiers.

"Our mujahadeen heroes of Iraq's Jihadi Battalion were able to capture American military man John Adam after killing a number of his comrades and capturing the rest," said the statement, signed by the "Mujahedeen Brigades."

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

The claim, carried on the Web site ansarnet.ws, could not be verified.

More than 180 foreigners have been kidnapped in the past year. At least 10 of them, including three American civilians, remain in the hands of their kidnappers.

The only American soldier known to have been taken hostage is Pfc. Keith M. Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, who was shown in a video in April being held by militants. Another video aired in June showed what purported to be Maupin's slaying, but the picture was too unclear to confirm it was him and the military still lists him as missing.

Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun went missing in Iraq in June and later photos surfaced on Arab television showing him blindfolded with a sword to his head. In July he made his way to the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. Back in the United States, he said he had been captured, but in December he was charged with desertion for the incident.

[pbear8]

And I thought I was the only one...

You most definitely are not (I bet there are lots of us):)

WC, didn't see the flour and spray suggestions until now, but I think I got away with it OK. He suspects nothing!!

[TexKat]

Freeper anonymoussierra had posted this website (ansarnet.ws) earlier today. I don't know where she got her info, but I found the following info on ansarnet.

New Terror Website www.ansarnet.ws Registered to a Dallas Address

Also Evan Kohlman of Global Terroralert was just on MSNBC and stated that whoever staged and posted the capture of the GI Cody was definitely not islamic. Kohlman said that the writing on the black flag hanging behind the doll was probably traced and was evidence that whoever did it was not familiar with the islamic language.

Alleged Photo of U.S. Soldier Held in Iraq Appears to be a Hoax

Update: I will be a guest on Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC at 8:15PM EST tonight to discuss the apparent hostage photo hoax.

The mainstream media has jumped on the purported story of "John Adam" -- a U.S. soldier allegedly taken prisoner by a little known Iraqi insurgent group known as the "Mujahideen Squadrons." A quick analysis of the photo released of "John Adam" shows that it is likely just a hoax:

1.) The soldier is seen seated in front of the trademark rising sun banner of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Al-Qaida faction in Iraq. Yet, this was not the group that took credit for the kidnapping. In fact, no credible representative from Zarqawi's group has yet taken credit for this kidnapping. The albeit-blurry words inscribed on the banner seem to be poorly written--perhaps suggesting that they were conceived by someone who is only a novice in the Arabic language.

2.) As pointed out by several colleagues, the boots and uniform worn by "John Adam" are not standard U.S. military issue. The name patch on his uniform, which should read ADAM, isn't visible either.

3.) The photo itself shows obvious signs of having been sloppily edited. "John's" face is marked by jagged, digital features and a chin line that is distinctly non-human. Notice that the left side of his chin runs in varying, contrasting sizes, demarcated by precise perpendicular lines. See image below:

[Paulus Invictus]

Dan Rather thinks it is genuine hostage picture so it must be. He is said to have said, " Just because it looks exactly like a toy soldier does not mean that the intent of the photo was not correct."

[roaddog727]

"They'd love to get their nasty terrorist hands on her Boop!"

ROTFLMAO!

[SERE_DOC]

Cold and insensitive, and unfeeling.

wuss is it

I am in touch with my sensitive side.

I don't get crass like some people who ahem.. mock the inhuman treatment of psuedohuman non-biological entities like some who's initials just happen to be

Zacs Mom

(_/grin_)

[airboss70]

Okie, dokie. And when I NeoTrace it, it shows up as in Miami (first few hops deleted for the obvious reasons):

NeoTrace Trace Version 3.25 - Results
Target: 198.87.87.9
Date: 2/1/2005 (Tuesday), 9:28:43 PM
Nodes: 12


Node Data
Node Net Reg IP Address Location Node Name

3 2 1 130.81.11.17 38.961N, 77.339W at-5-1-0-1714.core-rtr1.res.verizon-gni.net
4 2 1 130.81.9.37 38.961N, 77.339W so-0-1-0-0.bb-rtr1.res.verizon-gni.net
5 2 1 130.81.10.90 38.961N, 77.339W so-6-0-0-0.peer-rtr1.ash.verizon-gni.net
6 3 2 208.46.127.253 WASHINGTON D.C. dcx-edge-02.inet.qwest.net
7 4 - 205.171.251.13 WASHINGTON D.C.
8 4 2 205.171.251.34 WASHINGTON D.C. dcp-brdr-02.inet.qwest.net
9 4 - 205.171.1.146 New York
10 5 3 129.250.2.82 39.044N, 77.489W p16-1-0-0.r20.asbnva01.us.bb.verio.net
11 5 3 129.250.2.61 39.044N, 77.489W p16-5-0-0.r01.asbnva01.us.bb.verio.net
12 6 4 198.87.87.9 26.356N, 80.083W server.dammamhost.com


Packet Data
Node High Low Avg Tot Lost
1 0 0 0 1 0
2 50 50 50 1 0
3 22 22 22 1 0
4 27 27 27 1 0
5 27 27 27 1 0
6 23 23 23 1 0
7 21 21 21 1 0
8 30 30 30 1 0
9 22 22 22 1 0
10 38 38 38 1 0
11 33 33 33 1 0
12 ---- ---- ---- 2 2

[BigSkyFreeper]

The image properties dialogue box of Windows XP reveals some pretty interesting information about the picture. The camera used was a Mercury CyberPix S-550V (3.1 megapixel camera), and the photo was shot on March 9, 2001, 8mm focal length, exposure time 1/10th second, F-Number F/2.8, ISO Speed ISO-106. The camera appears to have been manufactured and bought in Russia.

[ChadGore]

BigSkyFreeper !! You are amazing !

[atruelady]

Cool, thanks!

[BigSkyFreeper]

Take a look at my post #887

[atruelady]

Amen!

[ChadGore]

Ahhh yes . . opened in a text editor the image contains this:
Mercury Peripherals Inc. CyberPix S-550V

and also this:
2001:03:09 08:04:48

So, in short, we have hundreds of major news orgs through out the world being faked out by a 4 year old JPG?

[airboss70]

Roger that. Always knew there was a reason I lurked here.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Here's a screen grab of the Windows XP image dialogue box

[BigSkyFreeper]

Never thought to look at the image properties until just a bit ago. I know some camera's and some photo editing software stamp headers into the image. I've got an ASCII viewer on my desktop, but I thought I would check the Windows XP image properties dialogue box just for kicks on my laptop, and sure enough, there it was.

[Zechariah_8_13]

man, I love this site!

Thanks BSF!

[FreedomCalls]

Dan Rather thinks it is genuine hostage picture so it must be. He is said to have said, " Just because it looks exactly like a toy soldier does not mean that the intent of the photo was not correct."

You're joking, but that's exactly what this DUmmy said earlier for real!

[BigSkyFreeper]

So, in short, we have hundreds of major news orgs through out the world being faked out by a 4 year old JPG?

LOL! I believe so!

[BigSkyFreeper]

I've proven the photo is not doctored. If it had been doctored in PhotoShop, PhotoShop would have put headers at the top of the image if one were to look at the image in raw ASCII. But, since the original photo from the Muslim website was not run through an image editor, it's not even doctored. LOL

The only thing fake about the image is the toy gun, toy soldier, and amateurish looking Arabic language banner in the background.

[FreedomCalls]

Good catch! I also tried looking at the properties dialog in Photoshop and it shows the photo has never been modified from the time it was taken. This contradicts the Counterterrorism Blog analysis that it has been photoshopped.