Welcome to Bizarro Amerika!

Five remarkably similar photos posted on a defaced U.S. Marine Corps website appeared to show American troops from the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines concealing their faces with the messages, such as “Stay out of Syria,” and, “I will not fight for Al Qaeda in Syria.”

“We believe the photos are illegitimate,” U.S. Marine Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Neil Murphy told ABC News on Monday.

Some opponents of the proposed U.S. military strike on Syria appear to have been taken in by the alleged hoax, including Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz.

Cruz cited one of the widely circulated photos on ABC News’ “This Week” last Sunday when he defended previous remarks that a U.S. strike on Syria would amount to America playing the role of al Qaeda’s air force.

Asked for the basis of his statement, Cruz told George Stephanopoulos,  ”What I can tell you is that actual line initially was said by [former Ohio Democratic Rep.] Dennis Kucinich. And where I saw it after that was a current naval sailor who tweeted and said, ‘I didn’t sign up to serve as al Qaeda’s air force.’”

In the photo, a man wearing the uniform of a Navy chief petty officer holds a placard that blocks his face and read, “I didn’t join the Navy to fight for al Qaeda in a Syrian civil war.”

But the Marines’ spokesman said the “sailor” likely wasn’t an American at all.

“We do not know the identity of the person in the photo, however, we are confident that the photo is part of a disinformation campaign that was part of a targeted ‘cyber redirect’ last week,” Murphy told ABC News.