WHEN ANIMALS CONDUCT COVERT OPERATIONS... AND ATTACK. In one of the weirder stories I've seen recently, Iranian Police have picked up for questioning 14 squirrels that allegedly were carrying spying equipment (via Boing Boing and Danger Room):
The IRNA [Islamic Republic News Agency] said that the squirrels were kitted out by foreign intelligence services - but were captured two weeks ago by police officers.
A Foreign Office source told Sky News: "The story is nuts."
Yet this is not the strangest story of modified animals used by the military to come out of the Middle East in the last few weeks. Locals in Basra have become convince that the British military has release man-eating badgers into the city in an attempt to do I don't know what (hard to imagine the thought process there). This occasioned what I can only describe as pretty much the best public statement ever:
UK military spokesman Major Mike Shearer said: "We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area.
--Sam Boyd