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KIDS! Get the latest action figure from Dragon Models USA!

It's SPECIAL OPS CODY!

ALL RIGHT KIDS!! Now YOU can join the fight for Iraqi freedom with Special Ops Cody, just like your REAL soldiers do!! Patrol the slums! Look for insurgents! Uh oh! Cody's been captured and is a hostage! Come on, Cody, escape! BLOW THEM TO SMITHEREENS!

BLAM! BOOM! RAT TAT TATTTA TAT!

KA-BLAAAAM!

Aw, crap, a sniper! AAAAHHH! BOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!

Special Agent Cody is equipped and dressed just like an authentic U.S. soldier currently serving in Iraq! He's got
AUTHENTICSPECIALOPSBOOTS,JACKET,VEST,GRENADES,PACKOFSMOKES,EVENANM-16RIFLE!

"Daddy, daddy! I WANT SPECIAL OPS CODY SO I CAN FIGHT FOR IRAQI FREEDOM, TOO!"

Flak jacket sold separately!

On February 1, 2005, it was widely reported that a U.S. soldier was captured in Iraq and was being held hostage. It was feared that he would suffer the same dismal fate as many other hostages before him: beheaded with a dull, slow blade on video while his killers praise Allah. A photograph of the hostage was posted on the website of the Islamist extremist group Al Mujahedeen Brigade and his name was John Adam. He was outfitted in typical U.S. soldier gear for serving in Iraq and had an assault rifle pointed at his head. He sits, looking quite despondent, against a black and white flag with his legs spread out before him with his knees slightly bent. His dark-skinned facial features are partially covered by camo paint. It definitely looks like another U.S. soldier will succomb to a grisly death as the war for Iraqi freedom rages on.

The story began to unravel, however, when Staff Sgt. Nick Minecci of the U.S. military's press office in Baghdad said that no soldiers had actually been reported missing. A CNN military analyst questioned the authenticity of the soldier's outfit, noting the trim on the flak jacket was such that he'd never seen before and the open-legged pants, which should have been gathered hems, looked strange. Finally, Liam Cusack, the marketing coordinator for Dragon Models USA, a toy company located in California, thinking it was at first a joke, thought the photo of the soldier looked strikingly like Dragon Models' action figure "Special Ops Cody" that they had made in late 2003. It was made for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service which supplies various items -- including action figures, apparently -- to military bases.

On February 2, 2005, only a day later, the hoax was blown open. The story came out: the supposed "hostage" was really a plastic action figure!! "Special Agent Cody" was in danger of getting his head cut off, not a real U.S. soldier! What were the final nails of the coffin in the hostage story? Firstly, camo paint, which is featured on the face of the action figure in the photograph, has not been used with conventional forces in Iraq.

And second, that assault rifle pointed at Cody's head, was also plastic: it is the weapon that the toy comes with.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/02/01/iraq.hostage/index.html