Fallujah

Why Iraq Insurgents Are Destined To Lose:

Remember this picture?

This picture is a Camel Spider, which has been "adjusted" to look giant through the creative tricks of a camera lens.

Here is how Americans responded, via Snopes:

According to most spider experts, these claims are all false. Camel spiders (so named because, like camels, they can be found in sandy desert regions) grow to be moderately large (about a 5" leg span), but nowhere near as large as dinner plates[.]

And here is the response from Iraqi Insurgents:

Some people describe the image as merely two camel spiders joined together. But many Fallujans say the picture shows a giant spider sent by God to attack US troops in the battle for their town in April.

"The soldier says that it runs fast - about 40 kilometres per hour. It is poisonous and it makes a screaming sound," said a poster in the mosque, entitled "Miracle of God in Fallujah"....

Although no Fallujans interviewed by IWPR claimed to have seen the beasts, many had heard tales about them.

"A spider emerged from the railway tracks near the Golan neighbourhood," said Abid Bin Allawi Ubeid, 32, a public servant in Fallujah's electricity department. "It killed 60 Marines."

Sovay's response, when I mentioned it to her:

"Gozira! Gozira!"