By Staff
Our View
The kidnapping of a U.S Marine by Iraqi terrorists has been declared a hoax. The marine in question is now believed to be a blurry picture of a toy.
Dragon Models USA, Inc.said the photo was actually of the African-American version of its "Cody" military action figure which is available for sale in Kuwait to Allied troops.Basically Iraqi insurgents were holding a doll hostage.
The Web-site that aired the photo declared it was a Marine by the name of John Adam who was just one of several troops that had been killed or captured by the "Jihadi Battalion.
"Our mujahedeen 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," The Web-site declared. "signed by the Mujahedeen Brigades."
According to CBS News, more than 180 people have been kidnapped in the last year by insurgent forces. At least 10 of them are still in enemy hands. The only American soldier actually known to have been taken hostage, Pfc. Keith M. Maupin may have been killed in June though that is not confirmed.
The other American soldier that may have been kidnapped was Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun who went missing in June, was thought to have been killed, and then appeared at a U.S. Embassy in Beirut in July seemingly unharmed.
He is currently under arrest and being charged with desertion for the incident. If he is found guilty of that charge he should probably be tried for treason.
The Marines and the National Guard are currently facing the lowest enlistment figures in close to a decade. The marines missed their monthly recruiting goal by 3 percent and the Guard has missed its recruiting figures by 44 percent due to the War on Terror and the fear of being sent into hostile territory.
Our enemies want us to be afraid. They hope if there is enough fear they can continue their stranglehold on the freedom of the numbers of Iraqi's who have never known peace, prosperity or freedom.
It is our duty as Americans to not be led into fear when we should be urging our troops into victory.
It is ignorant at this point to believe that our troops can merely come home with all that needs to be done in Iraq.It is ignorant to believe that we can declare victory in just a few more days and weeks. It is also ignorant to believe that we can have our troops in Iraq without them being seen as an occupied force by the people of that nation.
Ignorance, though, is fear.
Iraqi militants are perpetuating this fear in the hopes of having a chance to fight back. As Americans we can not let them win.
This war has been declared The War on Terror, if we let terror win, we lose.