US 'hostage' could be a doll
2005-02-02 11:38
Washington - A photograph of what Islamist militants claimed was a captured United States soldier may be instead a toy figure sold at US military bases in the Middle East, the toy's manufacturer said on Tuesday.
A Pentagon official said no US soldiers had been reported missing, and a spokesperson for Dragon Models USA Inc said the figure in the photograph resembles "Cody," an action figure based on US special forces soldiers fighting in Iraq.
"For us, it bears a striking resemblance," spokesperson Liam Cusack said from the company's headquarters in City of Industry, California.
The photograph posted on an Islamic website along with the claim purported to show a soldier seated on the ground with a gun pointed at his head. The figure in the photograph is wearing a desert camouflage uniform and a vest, and appears stiff and expressionless. A gun is seen pointing at the figure's head.
In a statement accompanying the photograph, an Islamist group calling itself the "Mujahedeen Squadrons - Iraq" claimed to have taken a US soldier hostage in Iraq and threatened to kill him unless Iraqis held in US prisons were freed within 72 hours.
Claims could not be verified
The claim, which was widely reported by news media around the world, could not be verified.
"We're not aware of anyone missing right now," a Pentagon official said. "Having said that, we're looking to confirm that no one's missing. Until that's complete it would be premature to comment."
Several Internet journalists pointed out the similarities between the soldier in the photograph and Cody. A retailer alerted Dragon Models USA.
"We want the proper authorities to check it out," Cusack said, noting that the facial features, uniform and equipment on the figure in the picture are similar to their product. "Even the boots are the same shade as the action figure we made," he said.
The company shipped thousands of the limited-edition figures more than a year ago to US military exchanges outside the United States, including in Kuwait and elsewhere in the Middle East, he said.
The photograph's posting comes months after Benjamin Vanderford, a 22-year-old San Francisco man, faked his own execution - in a video tape that purported to confirm his beheading in Iraq - in what he claimed was a bid to demonstrate the persuasive powers of the Internet.
Vanderford's hoax video was widely broadcast on Middle East television stations before he confirmed it was a fake last August.