Hoax Museum Blog: Military

Saddam Claus — John Walkenbach has a great photoshop on his weblog (J-Walk): the disguise Saddam Hussein was wearing when he was captured.

New Stealth Bomber — Here it is. The first unclassified photo of the new F-22 Stealth Fighter Bomber. Invisible not only to radar but also to the human eye. (Thanks to Darren McEwen for the picture).

Nigerian Navy Recruitment Scam — Just when we had all gotten used to those Nigerian email scams that fill up our inboxes every day, the Nigerian criminal class has gone back to the drawing board and come up with an entirely new way to con people out of money: it's the Nigerian Navy Recruitment Scam. Nigerian fraud artists are circulating fake documents that appear to be recruitment forms for the Nigerian Navy. I'm at a loss to see how exactly they make money out of this, but I'm sure they have a way. Meanwhile, the real Nigerian navy has announced that it will begin circulating real recruitment forms sometime this month.

CIA Tricks of the Trade — Some of the CIA's recent strategies are outlined here. For instance, it's been creating fake religious leaders in the Middle East to drum up support for American polices... i.e. it's been paying people to pose as pro-American Muslim clerics. They've also been giving agents satellite phones hidden in rifles. But even though they've got all kinds of high-tech gadgets, they're also still using disappearing ink.

Air Force Hoax — An email has been going around containing the text of a supposed Air Force press release that lists bases slated for reduction or closure due to budget cuts. The Air Force announced today that the press release is a hoax.

The art of disinformation — Interesting NY Times piece on the Art of Disinformation (as it pertains to spycraft).

Who is the real Saddam Hussein? — An audio broadcast being aired on Al-Jazeera purports to be the voice of Saddam Hussein delivering a message to the Iraqi people. As usual, it has left everyone wondering if it really is Saddam's voice, or just someone impersonating him. This recalls how everyone wondered whether the man in the video broadcast shown during the war was actually Hussein, or one of his doubles.

Comical Ali — The Iraqi (Mis)Information Minister (aka Comical Ali) is reported to be alive and well in Baghdad.

Rescue of Jessica Lynch — Just revealed: The rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch was a lunar hoax.

Push-Button Bugles — The military has a problem: not enough bugle players to play taps at all the military funerals. Therefore, they came up with the solution of bugles implanted with electronic chips that contain a recording of taps. No skill is required to play them, beyond being able to flip a switch. Now a group is protesting the use of the fake bugles, and is calling on bugle players throughout the nation to assist at military funerals: www.buglesacrossamerica.org

Saddam Hussein Doubles — Apparently Saddam Hussein employs many doubles of himself. The men shown below are apparently not the real Hussein. They're his doubles. So will the real Saddam Hussein please stand up?