British Troops Not To Blame for Giant Man-Eating Badger Epidemic in Basra

Found this off Bruce Schneier's site:

British forces have denied rumours that they released a plague of ferocious badgers into the Iraqi city of Basra.
Word spread among the populace that UK troops had introduced strange man-eating, bear-like beasts into the area to sow panic.


Full text. What's frightening, of course, is that we've so deranged life in that part of the world that our allies have to deny this kind of thing. Reminds me of another bit from the Beeb I was quoting to my friend Stan today:

When Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, the distinguished musical satirist Tom Lehrer decided that he could no longer perform. "It was at that moment that satire died," says Lehrer, "There was nothing more to say after that."