Terrorists threaten toy soldier

Al Jazeera jumped right on the story of the Mujahedin Brigade's capture and threatened execution of a toy soldier (the Mujahedin Brigade claimed he was an American soldier) last week. The Mujahedin Brigade produced a video showing an action figure named Cody in front of their black flag with a rifle aimed at his head. They threatened to kill Cody unless America released Iraqi prisoners within 72 hours. Al Jazeera stuck by their story long after we all knew that it was a hoax.

I was instantly critical of the Al Jazeera staff for letting this obvious hoax slip through. Even with an intense anti-America bias, a news organization should be able to tell the difference between a real human being and a plastic toy. (Al Jazeera has never held much credibility for news delivery outside of the middle east BUT their influence in that region cannot be denied.) I was critical of Al Jazeera for hanging on to the story when we all knew it was fake. I was critical of Al Jazeera for believing a story was true because they wished it were true.

Then I remembered Dan Rather, CBS and the fake document debacle. The parallels are astonishing. It's got to be somewhat releiving for Al Jazeera to realize that they are not the only ones in the world to be duped. It's got to be incredibly humiliating to CBS to realize that they are in such despicable company.

I think it's a TV show detective who said, perhaps regularly, that the conclusions must follow the investigation. The investigation cannot follow the conclusions.