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February 09, 2005

Whatever happened to GI Joe?

Am I the only one wondering whatever happened to the story about the "captured" toy? There was another story released on the AP wire the next day, also by Robert H. Reid, entitled "Questions raised over Web claim of soldier kidnapped in Iraq," but after that, nothing.

I'm curious to know who did post the picture and what were their motivations. It certainly seems like a newsworthy subject.

Of course the other big question is why the story was reported as true in the first place. The second AP article mentions the following problems:

-The U.S. military said no soldiers were missing.
-An American toy manufacturer said the figure in the photo resembled one of its military action figures, originally produced for sale at U.S. bases in Kuwait.
-The Arabic text contained several misspellings and repetitions.
-The figure appeared stiff and expressionless.

My question to Mr. Reid is, why on earth didn't you ask any of these questions in the first place?

Update: My brother pointed out an article on SITE where a board member admits to the hoax claiming to be a "20-year old Iraqi young man" who is "unarmed [and] independent." I'd be curious to know if he's being at all truthful about his identity. After all, it's not like anyone ever lies on message boards. The message is, however, accompanied by a picture that at least makes it believable that he was party to the hoax.

Posted by illuminaria at February 9, 2005 12:37 PM

Comments

Actually, there's been an of responsibility for this already.

Posted by: Brett at February 9, 2005 02:26 PM

Posted by: Brett at February 9, 2005 02:30 PM