Zarqawi quits al Qaeda, joins C.O.B.R.A., Part II

Confederate Yankee has managed to obtain exclusive photos of the two U.S. Marines that al Qaeda claims to have captured in Iraq:

Via ABC News::

Al Qaeda said on Sunday it had captured two U.S. marines in western Iraq and issued a 24-hour ultimatum to U.S. forces to release female Sunni Muslim prisoners, a statement posted on a Web site said on Sunday.

The latest statement came in the midst of a new U.S. offensive in towns in the far west of Iraq to track down al Qaeda militants U.S. forces believe are hiding near the Syrian border.

"Al Qaeda soldiers succeeded in kidnapping two U.S. marines … and al Qaeda is giving the infidels 24 hours to release female Sunni Muslim prisoners," it said.

"Or they should not bother to look for their children," said the statement, on a Web site often used by the group.

The statement said the two marines were captured in the midst of Operation Iron Fist, "in which they (U.S. forces) have been disappointed and have failed."

It was not immediately possible to verify independently the authenticity of the Web statement, which was signed off with a name that usually accompanies the group's official announcements.

A spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, Lieutenant Colonel Steve Boylan, said: "I have not heard anything about any of our folks being taken. I would suspect that these are unfounded rumors, as that is what has happened in the past."

Come up with a new gag.

We've seen this before.