For the Record

The unravelling of the U.S. soldier hostage story. Since news archives online, unlike blogs, tend to purge out in a few weeks, I thought I'd preserve this timeline here in case anyone wants it down the line.

At 1230 EST on Feb. 1, 2005, the Associated Press wired out a news alert:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi militants have claimed in a Web statement to have taken a U.S. soldier hostage and have posted a photo of a bound man in desert fatigues.

From here on, unless otherwise mentioned, all times are EST and all dates are Feb. 1. The first version of the story "BC-Iraq-Soldier" moved at 1240:

URGENT

Islamic Web site claims U.S. soldier captured, threat to behead him unless Iraqis are released

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi militants claimed in a Web statement Tuesday to have taken an American soldier hostage and threatened to behead him in 72 hours unless the Americans release Iraqi prisoners.

The posting, on a Web site that frequently carried militants' statements, included a photo of what appeared to be an American soldier in desert fatigues seated with his hands tied behind his back. A gun barrel was pointed at his head, and he is seated in front of a black banner emblazoned with the Islamic profession of faith, "There is no god but God and Muhammad is His prophet."

A statement posted with the picture suggested the group was holding other soldiers.

"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.

The claim, carried on the Web site ansarnet.ws, could not be verified.

At 1329, AP moved a 1st lede writethru. It added Robert H. Reid's byline, a U.S. military spokesman;s comment that he had no information on the claim, and a translation of some of the text on the Web site.

At 1349 AP moved its 2nd lede writethru. This only added one more graph of information at the end of the story.

AP moved its 3rd lede writethru at 1417, still with Reid's byline. Here's how the top of the story now reads:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi militants claimed in a Web statement Tuesday to have taken an American soldier hostage and threatened to behead him in 72 hours unless the Americans release Iraqi prisoners. The U.S. military said it was investigating, but the claim's authenticity could not be immediately confirmed.

The posting, on a Web site that frequently carried militants' statements, included a photo of a man purported to be an American soldier, wearing desert fatigues and seated on a concrete floor with his hands tied behind his back.

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."

The pull-back from the story began about five minutes later. AP sent out this advisory to editors at 1423:

Editors:

Please refrain from publishing or posting online AP Photo LON128, transmitted Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2005, due to questions being raised about the image. The image was purported to be from an Islamic Web site that claims the subject is a captive American soldier. The Associated Press is currently researching the validity of the image and will advise as soon as possible.

The AP

The 4th lede writethru came at 1458, still under Reid's byline. But now the tone has changed:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi militants claimed in a Web statement Tuesday to have taken an American soldier hostage and threatened to behead him in 72 hours unless the Americans release Iraqi prisoners. The U.S. military said it was investigating, but the claim's authenticity could not be immediately confirmed.

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 little more than half an hour later, AP began to back off the story itself (not just the picture). Another advisory went out to editors at 1534:

EDITORS:

Questions have been raised about the authenticity of a Web statement and photograph purporting to be a kidnapped U.S. soldier. A toy maker says the image of the soldier is strikingly similar to a military action figure. A writethru to B.C.-iraQ-soldier is upcoming with 30 minutes.

The AP

At 1538, the 5th lede writethru contained this graph:

Liam Cusack, of the toy manufacturer Dragon Models USA, inc., said the image of the soldier portrayed in the photo bore a striking resemblance to a military action figure made by the company.

Also, the byline was dropped. At 1556 came the full downgrade of the story:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — A Web site posted a photograph of what it claimed was a kidnapped U.S. soldier, but doubts were quickly raised about its authenticity and the U.S. military said no soldiers were missing.

A 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 statement appeared on a Web site often used for posting statements from militants, some of which have proven authentic in the past, and was in the name of a group that has claimed previous kidnappings, the Mujahedeen Brigades.

The Arabic text, however, contained several mispellings and repetitions.

So the story of the kidnapping was on the wire about 2 and a half hours, before it began to be played as a possible hoax.