Thursday, December 15, 2005

This Week in Fake News

In his column for the San Francisco Chronicle, Jon Carroll speculates on the kinds of "good stories about the war" that the Pentagon has been covertly placing in Iraqi newspapers.

JON CARROLL:

"Endangered worms make a comeback: One of the rarest worms in the world, Aporrectodea (species withheld by request), has been spotted by biologists in more than a dozen locations around Mosul. Once driven almost to extinction by agricultural practices, the worm has used rich new sources of nutrients to thrive and multiply.

Said a worm expert: 'First the land was allowed to lie fallow, then the ground was turned over in the course of the liberation. Add to that the calcium and potassium found in human bones, and iron in the blood, and you've basically got worm heaven. And I know the guys would have been happy to contribute to this new habitat.' "