[Media-watch] 'Islamists' and the Kidnapped Action Figure

[Eddie Truman]

Group claims to hold US soldier
>From correspondents in Dubai
http://tinylink.com/?UVeW050qYm 

AN Islamist group claimed to have taken a United States soldier hostage in
Iraq and threatened to kill him unless Iraqis held in US prisons were freed
within 72 hours, in a statement posted on an Islamist website today, along
with a photograph of the alleged captive.
"Our heroes from the squadron of the mujahedeen in Iraq were able to capture
a US soldier, John Adam, after having killed a number of his comrades ... We
will slaughter him if our prisoners held in the jails of the occupation
forces ... are not released within 72 hours," said the statement, whose
authenticity could not be confirmed.
The statement was signed by the "Mujahedeen Squadrons - Iraq" and was
undated. The group said the ultimatum would begin on publication of the
statement.
The photo showed a man of apparently African American origin in military
uniform sitting on the ground with his hands tied behind his back and an
assault rifle pointed at his head.
A banner in the background bore the Islamic inscription "There is no God but
God, Mohammed is the prophet of God". 
"This infidel will meet the same fate as hundreds of his comrades in the
occupation armies," the statement said.
The group claiming to hold the soldier is not one of the main insurgent
organisations which have repeatedly taken credit for abductions, killings
and bombings in Iraq over the past months.
But it used language similar to that which appears in statements attributed
to the group of Al-Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The US State Department said on January 26 that at least three Americans
were being held hostage in Iraq, and "a handful of others" were unaccounted
for.
Spokesman Richard Boucher declined to identify the three or provide any
details on their situation, only saying that officials are in regular
contact with their families.
His comments came one day after the airing on television stations of a video
in which a man, believed to be American Roy Hallums, was shown bound and
with a gun pointed at his head.
Mr Boucher gave no further information on the case of Mr Hallums, saying the
video was being studied by the government.
According to the US embassy in Iraq, Mr Hallums, 56, was kidnapped November
1 from the Baghdad office of the Saudi Arabian Trading and Contracting Co
(SATCO).

About 20 foreigners seized since Iraq's hostage crisis began last April
remain missing. Militant groups have claimed to have murdered more than 30
foreign captives but the authenticity of some claims has been questioned. 


So-called U.S. hostage appears to be toy
http://tinylink.com/?sEoXtBPjAl 
(with photograph)

(CNN) -- A photograph posted on an Islamist Web site appears to be that of
an action figure and not a U.S. soldier being held hostage.
Liam Cusack, the marketing coordinator for Dragon Models USA, said the
figure pictured on the Web site is believed to be "Special Ops Cody," a
military action figure the company manufactured in late 2003.
"It pretty much looks exactly like the same person," he said.
Cusack said he was contacted Tuesday morning by one of his retailers, who
informed him that the alleged hostage appeared to be one of the company's
action figures.
"I thought it was a joke at first," he said.
But after reading a report on a news Web site about a U.S. soldier allegedly
being captured, "I looked at it and said, 'It does look like one of our
action figures.'"
"Cody" is an action figure the company made for the Army and Air Force
Exchange Service, which supplies U.S. military bases worldwide with various
items. The doll was meant to look like a U.S. soldier who might be serving
in Iraq, Cusack said.
On the Islamist Web site, a group calling itself the Al Mujahedeen Brigade,
posted a photograph of a man it claimed was a captured U.S. soldier named
John Adam, and it threatened to behead him if Iraqi prisoners are not
released by U.S. forces.
Staff Sgt. Nick Minecci of the U.S. military's press office in Baghdad told
The Associated Press that "no units have reported anyone missing."
The photograph showed the figure against a black flag with white lettering
reading, "God is great, there is no god but Allah." A U.S. military assault
rifle was pointed at its head. It appears that "rifle" was part of the
plastic weaponry that came with the action figure.
The photograph immediately raised questions.
CNN military analyst James Marks, a retired Army general, questioned its
authenticity.
He told CNN in a phone interview that the flak jacket in the picture had a
kind of trim along the edges that he'd never seen before, and that the
open-legged pants, as opposed to gathered hems, struck him as odd.
He also questioned what appeared to be camouflage paint on the face.
"We have not used camo paint with conventional forces serving in Iraq,"
Marks said.
 



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