Ridiculousness!

OK. I gotta share this. Here's an email we received from a reporter that is just unbelievable! More incredible is the "story" it generated. A link to the story follows the text below.

Reporter:
Hi press desk,
We have a report from our Anbar stringer that locals in the Fallouja area are being attacked by animals dubbed "sheeb" (yes, sheeb, not sheep) allegedly introduced to the region by U.S. forces and let loose on people. The locals insist that these animals resemble wolves and have collars proving they are not wild animals but rather animals used by U.S. forces in search operations. (As weird as this may sound, there also was the story going around Basra last year of the Brits letting loose giant man-eating badgers on the population, so anything goes around here). Anyway, since the locals are alleging U.S. forces are behind these strange sheeb, my journalistic duty requires me to seek your comment. thanks much,

- Name withheld

MY REPLY:
Please tell me this is a late April Fools prank.

Reporter:
i wish. no, i swear, i've got a feed from my ramadi stringer actually quoting people by name as saying sheebs are on the loose in the karmah region near fallouja. god knows where the idea that they're being sent by the U.S. comes from, but that's what at least one supposed victim says. And the bit about the giant badgers really did happen. last summer in Basra. The local media actually gave that a lot of coverage.

- Name withheld

Here's the story's link:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/09/iraq-strange-ta.html