*Ø* American admits to hoax beheading video
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - "A tech-savvy young San Francisco man who staged his own mock beheading on the Internet duped international media today into believing Islamist kidnappers had executed an American hostage in Iraq.
"The video, which appeared on a Web site used by Islamic militants, showed a man who identified himself as Benjamin Vanderford appealing to the United States to leave Iraq. The Web format was that used by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and was introduced by a headline that said it showed Zarqawi killing an American.
"'If we don't (leave Iraq), everyone is gonna be killed in this way ... I have been offered for exchange for prisoners here in Iraq,' the terrified-looking man said, rocking back and forth in his chair, his hands tied behind his back.
"The video showed a hand with a large knife apparently slicing through the neck of a limp body.
"But it was all a hoax.
"The blood was dye, the setting was a friend's garage, the Koran reading was a tape and the knife was held by a friend. Mutilated bodies and sound effects were edited in from photos on Web sites and the video was purposefully blurred to make it seem even more amateur, Vanderford said.
"A major motivation for his action, an unrepentant Vanderford told Reuters, was to see how the world media would react and to see if they would be fooled. 'It really illustrates the potential that this kind of thing would happen,' he said."
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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - "A tech-savvy young San Francisco man who staged his own mock beheading on the Internet duped international media today into believing Islamist kidnappers had executed an American hostage in Iraq.
"The video, which appeared on a Web site used by Islamic militants, showed a man who identified himself as Benjamin Vanderford appealing to the United States to leave Iraq. The Web format was that used by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and was introduced by a headline that said it showed Zarqawi killing an American.
"'If we don't (leave Iraq), everyone is gonna be killed in this way ... I have been offered for exchange for prisoners here in Iraq,' the terrified-looking man said, rocking back and forth in his chair, his hands tied behind his back.
"The video showed a hand with a large knife apparently slicing through the neck of a limp body.
"But it was all a hoax.
"The blood was dye, the setting was a friend's garage, the Koran reading was a tape and the knife was held by a friend. Mutilated bodies and sound effects were edited in from photos on Web sites and the video was purposefully blurred to make it seem even more amateur, Vanderford said.
"A major motivation for his action, an unrepentant Vanderford told Reuters, was to see how the world media would react and to see if they would be fooled. 'It really illustrates the potential that this kind of thing would happen,' he said."
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