02-02-2005 03:28									#1
	Stupid Terrorist Tricks? Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

This morning a group of militants claimed to have kidnapped an American soldier:

quote: Web Site Claims GI Captured in Iraq Email this Story 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." (AP) This image of what appears to be a captured US soldier was posted on an Iraqi militant website,... Full Image 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 posting did not show any ID card for the alleged captive and no organization's name was written on the black banner, as have appeared in some past claims of kidnappings. The man's uniform had no U.S. insignia or names visible. The Mujahedeen Brigades have claimed responsibility for two kidnappings in the past - the abduction in April of three Japanese who were released and that of a Brazilian engineer who went missing after an ambush that the Brigades claimed to have carried out along with the Ansar al-Sunnah Army. 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.

And provided a photo:

quote: This image of what appears to be a captured US soldier was posted on an Iraqi militant website, Tuesday Feb. 1, 2005. According to the website, the militants threatened to behead the hostage in 72 hours unless the Americans release Iraqi prisoners. The claim could not be verified.(AP Photo)

Awful, right?

Weellll...

Somebody seeing that news item realized that the soldier looked...familiar...

Like this guy...


Too close?

Okay, we'll back up a bit...



...right.

	02-02-2005 03:47									#2
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quote: "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"

That should've been enough of a giveaway!

	02-02-2005 04:11									#3
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Well that's... different.

	02-02-2005 04:50									#4
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Well, if that's actually real, it does show that at least they have a sense of humor. Not all hope is lost yet.

	02-02-2005 06:28									#6
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dumbasses

	02-02-2005 06:44									#7
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I wish I could find a link to the original article but so far google has been no help at all. I suppose it's probably fake. would have been funny as hell if that picture really had appeared in a news item.

	02-02-2005 06:47									#8
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quote: Originally posted by Geronimo I wish I could find a link to the original article but so far google has been no help at all. I suppose it's probably fake. would have been funny as hell if that picture really had appeared in a news item.

It definately did throuhg the AP News and Reuters news feeds!

	02-02-2005 06:51									#9
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quote: Originally posted by Mordoch It definately did throuhg the AP News and Reuters news feeds!

have they already realized the picture was of a GI Joe action figure and pulled all the articles?

	02-02-2005 06:55									#10
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O M G!

	02-02-2005 06:56									#11
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The realized it sometime before 4 EST, because I heard about it (the toy) on the radio.

	02-02-2005 07:00									#12
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OMG, at least CNN is discussing it!

	02-02-2005 07:26									#13
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OMG! Will no one think of this poor Action Figure's Action Babies at home??

Is this a part of Bush's special plan for suplemental forces in Iraq??

	02-02-2005 07:29									#14
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they got hacked...

	02-02-2005 07:47									#15
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John Adam?

	02-02-2005 09:47									#16
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quote: Originally posted by Geronimo have they already realized the picture was of a GI Joe action figure and pulled all the articles?

Nah, they're still floating around out there.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=461413

Just run a search on the title.

	02-02-2005 09:49									#17
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I wonder if the terrorists realized he's only a toy soldier

	02-02-2005 09:57									#18
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Conclusion we reached after roughly 15 seconds of thinking:

quote: [01º02'18"] http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/m...tage/index.html [01º02'45"] Kassi: Yeah, TMM made a thread about it on 'poly. [01º03'04"] VJ: Ah. I just had to add it here too, because I found it hilariously absurd. [01º03'22"] The funny thing about is is that I doubt real Islamic militants published the pic. [01º03'45"] It's probably a marketing scheme for the toy company... "our models look VERY REAL, they even fooled the US military". [01º03'46"] Can't be them, it reeks of a student prank miles away [01º04'11"] well, it could be bums with no responsibility and too much time in their hands too.

Stupid media, always trying to whore every single scandal and negative news item they can in order to gain audience, no matter how less credibility it has.
The photo is an obvious fake if you'll compare it's head to the other parts of it... certainly didn't fool me. Then again, these experts who make up the news items probably have never seen a photoshopped picture before.

	02-02-2005 12:39									#19
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quote: Originally posted by BeBro I wonder if the terrorists realized he's only a toy soldier

Aren't they all?

	02-02-2005 13:26									#20
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Next question... you can get GI Joe's in Iraq?

	02-02-2005 13:28									#21
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One of the implanted terror cells here sent them one for Christmas........

ACK!

	02-02-2005 20:06									#22
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If the terrorists have to resort to using action figures to pretend that they have a hostage, then it proves that we are winning the war on terror.

	02-02-2005 21:53									#23
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quote: Originally posted by VJ The photo is an obvious fake if you'll compare it's head to the other parts of it... certainly didn't fool me. Then again, these experts who make up the news items probably have never seen a photoshopped picture before.

I think you should take another look at it then, because it certainly isn't fake. The soldier is that action figure and the gun pointed at its head is the gun from the set. The photo isn't photoshopped at all, it's just at a smaller scale than what you'd think. The text on that flag also seems to indicate that. Seeing how rough and big the lettering is, it's probably chalked on it. Not to mention the texture of the wall.

So it looks like you have been fooled.

	02-02-2005 23:33									#24
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Have they carried out the threat yet? Will a tube of glue patch him up or what?

	02-02-2005 23:54									#25
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quote: Originally posted by Smiley Next question... you can get GI Joe's in Iraq?

on sale in Kuwait, IIUC.

	03-02-2005 00:06									#26
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quote: Originally posted by Mercator I think you should take another look at it then, because it certainly isn't fake. The soldier is that action figure and the gun pointed at its head is the gun from the set. The photo isn't photoshopped at all, it's just at a smaller scale than what you'd think. The text on that flag also seems to indicate that. Seeing how rough and big the lettering is, it's probably chalked on it. Not to mention the texture of the wall. So it looks like you have been fooled.

Oh, don't make him angrier.

	03-02-2005 00:31									#28
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the kneepads is the funniest aspect of that picture. He must be the gay soldier. He looks kind of gay.

	03-02-2005 03:38									#29
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that image cracks me up, I think I'll use it as my avatar.

	03-02-2005 03:56									#30
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I'm shocked. Not only will they blow people up and decapitate hostages, now they're also trying to fool us. I mean, they're so dishonest it really sucks big time.

Next they'll have spiders in matchboxes and try to scare the crap out of unsuspecting curious folk.