...BASRA BASRA!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070711...aqunrestanimal
Giant badgers terrorise Iraqi port city
by Karim Jamil 2 hours, 39 minutes ago
BASRA, Iraq (AFP) - The Iraqi port city of Basra, already prey to a nasty turf war between rival militia factions, has now been gripped by a new fear -- a giant badger stalking the streets by night.
Local farmers have caught and killed several of the beasts, but this has done nothing to dispel rumours of a bear-like monster that eats humans and was allegedly released into the area by British forces to spread panic.
Iraqi scientists have attempted to calm the public but, amid the confusion and mistrust spawned by the ongoing guerrilla war, the story has spread like wildfire in the streets of the city and the villages round about.
Mushtaq Abdul-Mahdi, director of Basra's veterinary hospital, has inspected the corpses of several dead badgers and tries to reassure his fellow citizens that they are not a new post-war arrival in the region.
"These animals appeared before the fall of the regime in 1986. They are known as Al-Ghirayri and locally as Al-Girta," he told AFP. "Talk that this animal was brought by the British forces is incorrect and unscientific."
British troops have been based in Basra since the 2003 US-led invasion overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein, and the 5,500 that remain still face the threat of Shiite militias battling for the region's oil resources.
They also have to battle the Iraqi rumour mill, as locals are quick to blame them for almost any calamity that befalls the area -- including an apparent plague of vicious badgers with long claws and powerful jaws.
British army spokesman Major David Gell said the animals were thought to be a kind of honey badger -- melivora capensis -- which can be fierce but are not usually dangerous to humans unless provoked.
"They are native to the region but rare in Iraq. They're nocturnal carnivores with a fearsome reputation, but they don't stalk humans and carry them back to their lair," he said.
Both the scientists and the soldiers agree that the badger ought not to be a danger to humans, but so far they have failed to reassure the populace.
"I was sleeping at night when this strange animal hit me on my head. I have not seen such an animal before. My husband hurried to shoot it but it was as swift as a deer," said Suad Hassan, a 30-year-old housewife.
"It is the size of a dog but his head is like a monkey. It runs so quickly."
Cell phone video of the badgers circulating in Basra shows a stocky skunk-like animal with long front claws.
The honey badger, or ratel, is known as a brave predator capable of killing a cobra. It weighs up to 14 kilos (30 pounds), not usually known as man-eater.
Sattar Jabbar, a 50-year-old local farmer from Abu Sakhar north of Basra, believes the badger can tackle even large prey.
"I saw it three days ago at night attacking animals. It even ate a cow. It tore the cow up piece by piece. I tried to shoot it with my gun but it ran away into the orchards. I missed it," he said.
In Iraq there can be only one explanation for an animal so vicious.
"I believe this animal appeared following a raid to the region by the British forces," said Ali Mohsen, a farmer in his 40s from Karmat Ali, near the air base used by the multinational force.
"As we are close to the airport, they probably released this animal into the area," he reasoned.
Amid such tales, there is little experts like Dr Ghazi Yaqub Azzam, deputy dean of the veterinary college, can do to reassure his neighbours.
"Its nature is to eat small animals like hens and rats. It has powerful senses of hearing and smell. It gets aggressive if senses danger, but it doesn't attack man unless threatened," he said.
Azzam speculated that the badgers were being driven towards the city because Iraq is trying to re-flood marshland north of Basra that was drained by Saddam in order to persecute local Marsh Arab tribes.
For all that, the British army thinks Basrawis have little to fear.
"If you cornered it and poked it with a stick, then the smart money would be on the badger," warned Gell, who has faced many rumours like this one in his tour in Iraq.
"We have not released giant badgers in Basra," he said, "and nor have we been collecting eggs and releasing serpents into the Shatt al-Arab river."
The cake is NOT a lie. It's so delicious and moist.
The Weighted Companion Cube is cheating on you, that slut.
THEY!!111 OMG WTF LOL LET DA NOMADS AND TEH S3D3NTARY PEOPLA BOTH MAEK BITER AXP3REINCES
AND TEH GRAAT SINS OF THERE [DOCTRINAL] INOVATIONS BQU3ATH3D SMAL
AND!!1!11!!! LOL JUST IN CAES A DISPUTANT CALS U 2 DISPUT3 ABOUT THEYRE CLAMES
DO NOT THAN DISPUT3 ON THEM 3XCAPT BY WAY OF AN 3XTARNAL DISPUTA!!!!11!! WTF
British Aggressors release giant mutant killer badgers in Iraq.
It's them Al Kritter Terrorist i tell you!!
"I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration somehow you're not patriotic. We should stand up and say we are Americans and we have a right to debate and disagree with any administration." - Hillary Clinton, 2003
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Are badgers related to ferrets?
Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
"Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead
I refuse to participate in that title-naming convention.Originally posted by Blake
British Aggressors release giant mutant killer badgers in Iraq.
The cake is NOT a lie. It's so delicious and moist.
The Weighted Companion Cube is cheating on you, that slut.
I approve of this thread
I shall cherish this moment always, it shall not come again.Originally posted by Kuciwalker
I approve of this thread
The cake is NOT a lie. It's so delicious and moist.
The Weighted Companion Cube is cheating on you, that slut.
Yes, they're both mustelids. I'm not sure, and I'm not going to bother Wiki'ing, but I think mustelidae is an order. It includes badgers, minks, skunks, weasels, ferrets, otters, martens and wolverines.Originally posted by SlowwHand
Are badgers related to ferrets?
1011 1100
Finally, a biological proof that Ming and rah are relatedOriginally posted by Elok
Yes, they're both mustelids. I'm not sure, and I'm not going to bother Wiki'ing, but I think mustelidae is an order. It includes badgers, mings, skunks, weasels, ferrets, otters, martens and wolverines.
Also that it's quite possible that the Ferret Lord is behind all of this situation.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
"Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead
A badger will tear your ass up. A giant badger will tear your ass up in a big way.
What would a giant death locust brain sucking robot badger do?
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your signature to help him gain world domination.
Make movies.
They be needing a Snake then?
I've allways wanted to play "Russ Meyer's Civilization"
They would be like the rain in Spain?
Now, by itself this is amusing enough, but when you pile on this?
According to IRNA, the official Islamic Republic news agency, the national Police chief has implicitly verified the news about the confiscation of a number of squirrels, equipped with eavesdropping devices, on the Iranian borders.
Cake and grief counseling will be available at the conclusion of the test. Thank you for helping us help you help us all!
I thought about posting this, but as I went to the IRNA site, I realized I can't translate farsi...
Mainly on the plain? I thought it's mostly desert in Iraq...Originally posted by Lancer
They would be like the rain in Spain?
I've allways wanted to play "Russ Meyer's Civilization"
Ya got me there.
Lack of reference to British aggressors in thread title.
DISCLAIMER: the author of the above written texts does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for any offence and insult; disrespect, arrogance and related forms of demeaning behaviour; discrimination based on race, gender, age, income class, body mass, living area, political voting-record, football fan-ship and musical preference; insensitivity towards material, emotional or spiritual distress; and attempted emotional or financial black-mailing, skirt-chasing or death-threats perceived by the reader of the said written texts.
Big Ass Badgers:
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/Big+Ass+Badgers/
Capitalisation - The difference between helping your uncle Jack off a horse, and helping your uncle jack off a horse
Grammar - The difference between knowing your $hit, and knowing you're $hit.
Spelling - The difference between being literate, and being Dinner.
And that was predicted over a month ago.
Capitalisation - The difference between helping your uncle Jack off a horse, and helping your uncle jack off a horse
Grammar - The difference between knowing your $hit, and knowing you're $hit.
Spelling - The difference between being literate, and being Dinner.
I was hoping that video would be a decent joke but what a pile of crap :\
Learn to overcome the crass demands of flesh and bone, for they warp the matrix through which we perceive the world. Extend your awareness outward, beyond the self of body, to embrace the self of group and the self of humanity. The goals of the group and the greater race are transcendant, and to embrace them is to acheive enlightenment.
Revealed: Secret Squirrel Master Plan
By Noah Shachtman EmailJuly 23, 2007 | 12:30:20 PMCategories: Animal Kingdom, Secret Squirrel
I'm sure the military's operational security officers will give me all kinds of grief for posting this. But the hidden link between Iraq's man-eating badgers, Iran's squirrel spies, China's cyborg pigeons has been discovered. Turns out they're all part of one grand, U.S. spy plan: the "Autonomous Coordinated Organic Reconnaissance Network" -- "Project ACORN," for short. MountainRunner and the Small Wars Journal first unearthed the plan, which is sure to take its rightful place next to Directed Energy Sea Mammals as one of the most ingenious Pentagon projects ever launched.
Damn these intelligence leakers in the MSM.
WIRED Mag
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WANTED:
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Iain Banks missed deadline due to Civ | The eyes are the groin of the head. - Dwight Schrute.
One more turn .... One more turn .... | WWTSD
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