Shades of Rathergate! Did the bloggers outsmart the major news media again?

Tuesday morning, while the Associated Press breathlessly and slavishly reported claims from an Islamic Web site that an American had been captured and would be beheaded in 72 hours, American bloggers quickly discovered the alleged ?captive? appeared to be a doll from a GI Joe-type toy.

The terrorists posted a photo on their Web site purporting to show an American GI by the name of ?John Adam? who was alleged to have been captured in some unknown location after a gun fight.

?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 ?Mujahadeen Brigades.?

Bloggers on the Free Republic site discovered the hoax at 11:22 a.m., documenting it three minutes later with a series of photos of the military doll in question. There was no doubt, based on the photos, that the doll had the same dark face and light eyes of the ?John Adam? shown in the terrorist photo.

Matt Drudge picked up the story from the bloggers and had it posted with photos of the doll by 3 p.m.

Meanwhile, the AP continued to update the terrorists? story, even after denials from the Army that any soldiers were missing.

According to the AP, a statement on the terrorist web site said the group was holding other American soldiers and demanded the release of all female and male prisoners being held by the Americans.

“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.

By 3:40 p.m. more than 50 messages had been posted on the Web site, each confirming or adding information to document that the photos were faked. At 3:03 p.m. the AP continued to update the story in an article by-lined by Robert H. Reid.

?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.”

Reid?s first posting said the man in the photo ?had his hands tied behind his back.?

Apparently feeling the pressure, Reid?s 3:03 p.m. update added the phrase ?The figure in the photo appeared stiff and expressionless, and the photo’s authenticity could not be confirmed.?

Who do you believe?

I?m betting on the bloggers.

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PS: I’d post the Web sites but that’s entirely too complicated for me.