Captured Soldier Really A Doll
Earlier today an Islamist website posted a message claiming to have a U.S. soldier held captive. Closer examination of the picture posted with the message would suggest that all is not as it appears.
Wizbang has more, along with pictures and comparisons which I think make a pretty air-tight case for the "hostage" being a doll. My first guess was that this was something along the lines of this hoax posted before, but apparently the doll in question is one that is sold at U.S. military bases in the middle-east.
Bearing that in mind, I think this is a pretty good indication that one of the terrorist organizations is responsible for the hoax and that they are getting awfully desperate.
Update:
The guys at Powerline would seem to agree with me:
DUBAI (Reuters) - A picture of an "abducted" U.S. soldier in Iraq appeared on a Web site on Tuesday, but suspicion grew it was a hoax after a U.S. toy maker said it appeared to show a model soldier made by the company.
"Our mujahideen ... have managed to capture the American soldier John Adam after killing a number of his colleagues," said the Mujahideen Squadrons in the undated statement on a Web site monitored in Dubai. It threatened to kill him.
But Liam Cusack, marketing coordinator for California-based Dragon Models USA, said the picture appeared to show a special forces operative figure the company had made for collectors.
Wizbang has more, along with pictures and comparisons which I think make a pretty air-tight case for the "hostage" being a doll. My first guess was that this was something along the lines of this hoax posted before, but apparently the doll in question is one that is sold at U.S. military bases in the middle-east.
Bearing that in mind, I think this is a pretty good indication that one of the terrorist organizations is responsible for the hoax and that they are getting awfully desperate.
Update:
The guys at Powerline would seem to agree with me:
The captured toy story could be pretty significant. The terrorists need, more than anything else, to be seen as awesome, terrible figures. If they stop inspiring fear, they are finished. So the one thing they cannot stand is ridicule. I would think that by tomorrow, their pathetic effort to pass a doll off as a captured American soldier will have made them laughingstocks throughout the Arab world.
This doesn't mean, of course, they they won't carry off future atrocities, maybe spectacular ones. But, coming on the heels of Iraq's triumphant election, widespread perception of the terrorists as ineffectual figures of fun could well be another nail in their coffin.
