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I've heard in various places - chief among them, Will Ferrell's 'You're Welcome America' - that Morocco contributed monkeys for bomb or land mine detonation in the 2003 Iraq War. Did this deal actually go through? If so, what role did these monkeys play in the war effort?

Hendrik Vogt
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samthebrand
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2 Answers2

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It appears that this claim originally appeared in al Usbu' al-Siyassi. e.g. Washington Post attributes it to them, but many others repeat the claim.

Was it true?

According to Arabic News:

Morocco's Communication ministry denied on Monday that Morocco sold monkeys to the US army to be used for mine clearance in Iraq, as was reported by French satellite TV channel LCI and UPI news agency.

In a clarification sent to the two media, the Communication department termed this information as "whimsical and unfounded."

We are still stuck with the question of who to believe: Can you believe the Arabic News over al Usbu' al-Siyassi? How about the Communication department of Morocco over LCI and UPI? Why did they need to issue a "clarification" rather than a "denial", or am I reading too much into the wording?

However, it seems unlikely that an actual deployment of 2,000 monkeys could go unnoticed by the press photographers, so I am inclined to believe the denials.

Community
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Oddthinking
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  • I tried to find the denial on the [Morrocan Ministry of Communication web-site](http://www.mincom.gov.ma/mincom/AR), but it appears communicating with the English-speaking world isn't their priority. – Oddthinking Nov 01 '11 at 10:41
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    Did you try Google Translate? – user5341 Nov 01 '11 at 11:02
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    Also, same logic applies as to the fake moon landing. Does anyone seriously think that if even ONE monkey was used in such a manner, all sorts of animal rights people and opponents of Iraq War wouldn't make a giant stink out of this with Congressional Hearings, gazillion protests, etc...? – user5341 Nov 01 '11 at 11:04
  • @DVK: I don't really expect an 8-year-old press release to still be around, and Google Translate didn't help typing in search terms, so I gave up. (I found a secret link to the English-language version, but it is all just placeholder text.) – Oddthinking Nov 01 '11 at 11:17
  • "clarification" in this case may well be an error in translation from a Berber or Arabic original text... And yes, I'd sooner take the Moroccan government's word for it than some sensationalist TV station's. – jwenting Nov 01 '11 at 14:29
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    I agree in both cases, @jwenting. I wish I could find the original text to (a) confirm the meaning and (b) eliminate Arabic News from the chain-of-evidence. – Oddthinking Nov 01 '11 at 14:45
  • @DVK, I note that six British military dogs have been killed (or otherwise died on duty) in the Iraq War, and their deaths have [been](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1362275/Bomb-sniffing-Army-dog-dies-broken-heart-Taliban-kill-master.html) [reported](http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/editors-choice/2011/01/02/dogs-of-war-canine-heroes-killed-in-iraq-and-afghanistan-wars-hailed-86908-22822041/) by the press. (Perhaps not as widely as you describe, but certainly more widely than those of a vast majority of individual Iraqi civilians.) – Oddthinking Nov 01 '11 at 14:53
  • @Oddthinking - there have been a few cases of US Military dogs receiving posthumous medals as well. There are mine clearing tanks that would be far more effective and probably much safer for the troops managing the removal effort than a battalion of monkeys. Though if we put them all in a barrel i bet it would be loads of fun. – Chad Nov 01 '11 at 15:09
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Al osbou' assahafi is (or was, I think it might have closed) a satirical publication. Not unlike le Canard Enchainé in France and Private Eye in the UK. This was obviously not news but satire and treated as such in Morocco. Atlas Monkeys are an endangered species in Morocco and I doubt there would be 2000 in the wild to begin with, let alone to train as kamikaze landmine detonators.

Ps: In French, you always send a communiqué pour clarifier (to clarify). I gives the parties the possibility to shelve the situation as a misunderstanding. Denial (nier) is reserved to direct accusations and conveys a significant enough outrage for confrontation.

Younes Badraoui
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  • At least Atlas Monkeys being endangered and having a population of some thousands is [supported by national geographic](http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/11/barbary-macaques/shea-text), "As few as 6,000 of the endangered monkeys remain—with between 4,000 and 5,000 in Morocco." – eis Sep 27 '16 at 19:17