Scroll down to the previous entry to see the sleuthing work on the soldier supposedly held hostage by an unknown group in Iraq. It now appear almost certain that the picture is that of a GI Joe. Who is going to be the first mainstream outlet to report that? Tick… tick…
If you find a story that mentions a GI Joe action figure; leave a link.

Drudge Report has the story now…
How was anyone taken in by this. We were looking at the news at work at about 10 am PST and it took about 30 seconds to figure out it was a doll. Nothing looked right. Maybe I should go to work for CBS.
Thou shalt not make any graven image.
If the terrorists have to resort to teenage pranks, we must be kicking their asses more than I thought. How laughably impotent this makes the great Zarqawi look. Next to the election, this is the second best news out of Iraq this week.
Beheading? You can just pop the little sucker’s head off.
Kidding aside, who created the hoax? Our islamofacist friends? Or some western ahole?
Fox News, Brit Hume, just reported on the “hoax”
We should now take the war on their terms, and have whoever manufactures these dolls produce one of an “Iraqi Insurgent”.
Then we could take him to camp X-ray and interrogate him. I’m sure fellow prisoners there would enjoy his company.
P.S. Maybe what Iraq needs is U.N. sanctions on G.I. Joe dolls.
So next they’ll capture the Alien, then the Predator, then they’ll claim that they have Spiderman, then…
I knew the photo was fake when I first saw it this morning, what with the cottage cheese walls, the vest that would fit an elephant and the fact that there don’t even appear to be any arms in those sleeves, and that was even before the tiny head gave me pause, plus the fact that I’d know a G.I.Joe DOLL anywhere.
They’d have gotten a lot more mileage if they’d posed a Barbie or even two Barbies, what with the trends being what they are.
Ha, Team America. Oh, so, NOW I understand…
Actually, I realize it’s not G.I.Joe, but all the Joe’s Dolls look alike to me at this point.
Ha…very funny in a very uncomfortable sorta way.
Why don’t they just capture SpongeBob and get it over with?
O.K., serioiusly, now, I looked far more closely at this image and here’s what I found: ___o – o______
CNN Headline just did the story and said the hostage “may” be a doll. Fine time to decide to be cautious. Idiots.
And I thought restricting little dolls was for the S&M fetish crowd.
Seems to me that most of the jihadis ARE S&M fetishists… or at least S fetishists.
Hey, weren’t Madelaine Albright and Maureen Dowd seen messing around with George Bush and Ann Coulter dolls a few months ago? I bet she’s behind this!
HELP! My trackback attempts all result in being “throttled” by Wizbang! Is it something I wrote?
I couldn’t resist the opportunity to cartoon-away, here, but alas, trackback failed.
Here’s my wan attempt to contribute…but still no G. I. Joe.
Well, now resolved, sorry to wail.
I don’t any of the MSM stories should count as being the first unless they acknowledge it as a fake, with no hedging. All the MSM stories I’ve seen so far say it might be a fake – kinda like the MSM still thinking that the Bush Memos might be fakes. So which MSM story talks about this as a real fake?
What’s the world coming to? Even CBS picked this one up:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/01/iraq/main670972.shtml
This just in. “Team America” has him and cody is headed home to a Wal Mart shelf near you!
I love the Fox News “correction”
The claim, posted on an Arabic Web site frequented by militants, was first cast into doubt when a military spokesman in Baghdad said the kidnapping claim and photo could not be verified, and that “no units have reported anyone missing.”
How about something a little more accurate, like:
“the claim was first cast into doubt by a bunch of alert bloggers who didn’t have the wool pulled over their eyes in a rush to sensationalize.”
OK, The UK Telegraph – its the first MSM to actually run a headline and story saying the picture is a hoax and a toy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/02/02/whoax02.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/02/02/ixworld.html
Or as a link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/02/02/whoax02.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/02/02/ixworld.html
CNN has a blurb on their news story.
“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.”
“Liam Cusack, of the toy manufacturer Dragon Models USA Inc., said the image bore a striking resemblance to the African-American version of its “Cody” action figure.
“It is our doll … To me, it looks definitely like it is,” Cusack told The Associated Press. “Everything the guy is wearing is exactly what comes with our figure. If you look at the two pictures side by side, it’d be a huge coincidence.”
The company, based in City of Industry, Calif., produced 4,000 of the figures in 2003 for the U.S. military for sale in its Kuwait bases. It was never sold in the United States but is traded on line among collectors, sometimes to use in highly realistic dioramas, he said. “
Anyone else find it odd that this was ONLY sold in Kuwait bases. It shouldn’t take long to figure out of the 4000 that were there how many were sold and to where/whoom. It’s possible that a soldier or consultant brought one back for there kid and kids did this. but seems a little strange that it was this “doll” that was used.
It’s not a fake! They’ve rescued him!
http://www.footballfansfortruth.us/archives/000690.html