Iraqi shark rumor blames Americans

Every once in a while a story surfaces of Iraqis suspecting Americans of offbeat or bizarre feats. We should never underestimate suspicions, because many Iraqis (and others) sincerely believe in them.

The latest is the report of a shark caught in an irrigation canal by the Euphrates River, 160 miles from the sea. Reuters reported from Nassiria on October 30 that a man and his two sons were fishing in the river and discovered they had caught a two-meter-long shark in their net.

According to Reuters, "Locals blamed the US military for the shark's presence.

"Tahseen Ali, a teacher, said there was a '75 percent chance' Americans had put the shark in the water. 'This is very frightening for us. Our children always swim in the river and I believe that there are more sharks. I believe that America is behind this matter,' said fisherman Hatim Karim."

While it's easy to brush off such rumors, such suspicions are dangerous to US interests. Left unaddressed, they tend to multiply and often cannot be refuted by reason or facts. Iraq and many Arab societies (as well as much of humanity as a whole) tend to place great faith in rumors, whose impact is difficult to counteract.