On Tuesday, a story hit the newswire about the supposed capture of an American soldier in Iraq, including a photograph of the soldier in front of a sheet or fabric with Arabic writing on it. At first glance, the photograph looked sketchy to most, which I would absolutely attest to. But somehow it still hit the wire, with stories like this one being floated around.

While the Associated Press had never confirmed that the photo was "John Adam," as the terrorist website attributed his name to be, the image was included in multiple runs of the story for just under two hours. You can see the AP's latest here or here. Before even arguing about how this type of situation could occur, I have to take issue with one line from the bottom of the latest AP item:

If proven a fake, Tuesday's posting would not be the first hoax associated with kidnappings in Iraq.

If it's fake? While the "hoax" may prove to still be a move by actual terrorists to cause alarm by the American people, military and media, the photo and "soldier," are, by all accounts, fake.

Over at A Small Victory, Michele has some words for the situation, stating the same thing I thought:

You mean to tell me not one editor at any of the 2,000 or so AP sites this showed up on found that picture at all suspicious? I looked at it for two seconds and knew it was an action figure.

While I know that the newsworthiness of a story can cause "fake" things to hit wires and newspapers here and there, this is a case where the average set of eyeballs was on the mark - weren't you when you first took a gander at the image in question?

The Command Post has a ton more, including all the blogs covering the situation.

The timeline of how this story evolved in the afternoon can be found below.

12:30 Original NewsAlert: 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.

12:40 6-graf story, ending with a line saying the claim could not be independently verified.

1:29 10-graf story, with military spokesman saying we have no info, but we're looking into it in graf 4, claim could not be verified in graf 9.

1:49 Same story, adding a graf of background about the marine who went missing and is now accused of deserting.

2:17 "The claim's authenticity could not be confirmed" is now part of the lead.

2:23 A Photo Withhold goes out:

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.

2:56 The claim's authenticity could not be confirmed is in the first graf; the photo is described in language that suggests it's fake-looking; 'its authenticity could not be confirmed' is in the second graf.

3:30 NewsAlert: U.S. military says no American soldier has been reported missing in Iraq, after Web site claim that soldier was kidnapped.

3:34 Advisory: 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.

3:38 The lead is that the Army says no soldier has been reported missing after a web statement that one had been kidnapped. Fifth and last graf notes that a toymaker says the figure in the photo looks a lot like one of theirs.

As of 6pm Eastern, the Associated Press has not responded to a request this afternoon for comment on the "soldier" image.

RatherBiased.com rounds up some of the forum discussions on the topic, making a great point that "it was online message boards that found the evidence." The fine folks at Fark, among other places, appear to be responsible a lot of the research.