MANAMA, 3 February 2005 — No US soldier has been abducted in Iraq, a US Defense Department spokesman said here yesterday. His statement followed reports published on the Internet that Iraqi insurgents were holding a US solider hostage.
The statement comes as speculation mounts that the solider whom his picture was posted on one of the insurgents’ websites and identified him as John Adam, might be just a mannequin developed by a US toy manufacturer.
The picture on the insurgents website that accompanied a threat to kill the solider showed him with a machine-gun pointed to his head and a flag for Ansar Al-Islam in the background.
The spokesman would not comment on whether the man shown in the picture was a toy or not, pending further investigation, but confirmed that investigations conducted by the Defense Ministry revealed that all its soldiers in Iraq were accounted for.
A spokesman for toy manufacturer Dragon Models USA, told the Boston Globe that the picture resembled a special forces operative figure the company had made for collectors.
Liam Cusack, marketing coordinator for California-based Dragon Models USA, said the striking similarity between his company’s action figure, which was marketed under the name “Cody,” and the published picture, were pointed out to him early on Tuesday by an Arizona retailer.
“I worked on the development of that figure so I had seen the look of that head before,” Cusack said. “We don’t want to be the ones to say that it is (a hoax) for sure. Because if there is a search and rescue, that needs to be done.”
Cusack, speaking from his office at City of Industry, California, noted the rifle being pointed at the figure in the photograph posted on the website also appeared to be the plastic M4 rifle included with the figure.
