EXPLODING COWS?

A good story about Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams in Iraq.

It was the third trip that Master Sgt. Mo Mustafa’s explosive ordnance disposal, or EOD, team had made to the group of homes they call a village. To most Westerners, it’s more like a group of houses. There aren’t businesses nearby or any public buildings. Just white-walled houses surrounded by dusty fields. Many of those fields have trees that produce an applelike fruit in season. Sheep and cows roam among the trees, looking for lunch.

One of those cows, a local says, won’t be doing any more roaming. He tells Mustafa — the only American in the 10-member team who speaks Arabic — that the cow disturbed a cluster bomblet and blew up. Then he asks Mustafa for some money for it.