← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · kminta
Thread ID: 14640 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2004-08-07
2004-08-07 19:56 | User Profile
[I]What was this guy thinking? Did he actually think he could pull a sick stunt like this and get away with it? It's people like this who perpetuate the cycle of violence.[/I]
Last Updated: Saturday, 7 August, 2004, 16:53 GMT 17:53 UK
[B][URL=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3544032.stm]US man made hoax execution video[/URL][/B]
[B]A man from San Francisco has admitted staging a hoax video that appeared to show him being beheaded in Iraq.[/B]
Benjamin Vanderford from San Francisco said he made the tape months ago as part of his campaign for local office, Associated Press news agency reports.
The video was reported to have been made by militants linked to top al-Qaeda suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Mr Zarqawi's group has released footage of hostage beheadings, but doubts were quickly expressed about this footage.
The dark images of the fake video showed a man dressed in a plain T-shirt, sitting on a chair with his hands behind his back. I have been offered for exchange for prisoners here in Iraq," he says.
"We need to leave this country right now. If we don't, everyone is gonna be killed in this way."
After that, a body is shown on the floor with a knife apparently cutting at the neck.
Mr Vanderford, 22, said he had taped the video at a friend's house using fake blood.
He told AP news agency he began distributing the video on the internet months ago to draw attention to his campaign to get elected as city supervisor. He failed to get elected, but said he wanted make a statement about how easily such videos can be faked.
The video was posted on a militant website and broadcast on Arab television on Saturday.
Mr Vanderford, who works at a bank, said he did not regret making the video.
"I see how it could be considered disrespectful. But I think people, if they look at it, will understand two other big issues it brings up," he told AP.
"One - how easily these types of videos can be faked. Two - how easily the press can be tricked into thinking the videos are real."
Iraqi militants have seized scores of foreign hostages, usually demanding the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq.
An American, a South Korean and a third man, said to be a Bulgarian, have been shown on videos being beheaded.
On Saturday, a video was released threatening a Turkish lorry driver with beheading if his company did not stop work in Iraq within 48 hours.
Within hours, the company, Atahan Lojistik, released a statement saying the company was pulling out of Iraq.
Earlier this week the country's truckers' association ended deliveries into Iraq following the killing of a Turkish hostage, Murat Yuce. A recording claimed by Zarqawi's men showed the hostage being shot in the head three times.