Kidnapped Soldier a Toy Used for Hoax?
Posted: February 1, 2005 at 12:41 p.m.
Updated: February 1, 2005 at 12:58 a.m.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A Web site posted a photograph of what it claimed was a kidnapped U.S. soldier, but doubts were quickly raised about its authenticity and the U.S. military said no soldiers were missing.
A toy manufacturer said the figure in the photo resembled one of its military action figures, originally produced for sale at U.S. bases in Kuwait.
The statement appeared on a Web site often used for posting statements from militants, some of which have proven authentic in the past, and was in the name of a group that has claimed previous kidnappings, the Mujahedeen Brigades.
The Arabic text, however, contained several mispellings and repetitions.
Staff Sgt. Nick Minecci of the U.S. military's press office in Baghdad said "no units have reported anyone missing."
The photo in the posting showed a figure dressed in desert camouflage fatigues, wearing a vest and knee pads and with a gun pointed to its head. All the items are similar to ones that come in a box with the action figure, named "Cody."
The figure in the photo appeared stiff and expressionless, and the statement said he was named "John Adam."
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" action figure.
"It is our doll ... to me it definitely looks like it is," Cusack told The Associated Press. "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."