Perpetuating Lies & Propaganda

Not long ago I received an email from a well intentioned brother which read something like this: “location of Babylon – Iraq; location of Ur (city of Abraham’s birth) – Iraq; Location of Nineveh – Iraq; location of Babylonian captivity – Iraq;” etc. for about 3 full pages. At the end of the propaganda there was a blurb something like this: “There is a verse in the Koran that says: The Lion (Saddam) will awaken the sleeping Eagle (America) and the Eagle will proceed to destroy the Lion along with all the Lion’s neighbors and bring balance to the force in the Middle East.” Of course it gave a “chapter and verse” so I, of course, took out my Koran and looked it up. Of course, there was no such verse, so I got online and looked up all the key words in the “verse” in several different online versions of the Koran. And of course, there was no such verse, nor anything like unto it. I wrote him, and all the people he had forwarded it to, explaining that the notion was bogus, that perhaps the places and other facts therein described were accurate, but the climax of the note was completely bogus. Later, I got a return email from my brother. He was thoroughly offended. Coincidently, I also got an email from my uncle who said he appreciated the fact check.