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Pigeons, Chickens, Dolphins, Dogs Get Marching Orders in Iraq War By Siobhan McDonough Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. troops are getting an assist from a military menagerie in the Iraq war. Chickens, sea lions and a few good dolphins - Makai and Tacoma - have been in the fight. Dogs, good at alerting troops and relaying messages, are also sniffing out bombs in Iraq. Warfare has long depended on the fowl and the four-legged, whether they were elephants bearing javelin throwers on the battlefields of the ancient world, camels spooking Byzantine cavalry horses with their pungent smell, or...

As the United States stands on the precipice of war with Iraq, deployed Marines are prepared for the threat of chemical and biological weapons, according to Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee. "I believe we are as prepared as technology can make us today," Hagee told Inside the Navy in an interview today, noting Marines have received the necessary training and equipment.How long a war with Iraq might last is unclear. "If it goes, we don't know if the Iraqis are going to come out with an American flag in one hand and a flower in the other, or whether...

<p>NORTHERN KUWAIT — The Marines have gone to the birds.</p> <p>This state of affairs has been caused by the recent deployment to Kuwait's Camp Matilda of dozens of pigeons. They replaced the first casualties of a looming war with Iraq: a phalanx of American chickens struck down by flu, suffocating heat, clouds of dust and diesel fumes.</p>

<p>"Alpha Annie" didn't survive her deployment to the Kuwaiti desert with the U.S. Marines. But at least it wasn't NBC that killed her.</p> <p>Alpha Annie was a chicken, one of the now famous Kuwaiti chickens that were purchased by some Marine ground combat units here to help provide a backup for the high-tech nuclear-biological-chemical (NBC) detectors each Marine company is equipped with. It was sort of a modern-day canary-in-the-mine-shaft concept.</p>

CAMP GRIZZLY, Kuwait, March 15 (UPI) -- Corporal James Lill is a Marine with a special mission along the Kuwait-Iraq border -- the care, feeding and emotional nuturing of "Dumb-ass," an involuntary conscript to the ranks of Bravo Company upon whom the lives of dozens of Marines may depend. Dumb-ass is there in case Iraqi forces use chemical weapons on troops invading the country to topple Saddam Hussein and rid it of weapons of mass destruction. So special is Dumb-ass, that he has his own special sleeping quarters, a constant supply of food, and heaps of attention. "Did you feed...

Nearly a month ago, the Marines of the 7th Regiment were given 43 chickens to raise and nurture, chickens that were to repay them by helping detect a possible Iraqi chemical or biological attack. Within a week and a half, 42 were dead, although no one suspects foul play. On Friday, the Marines got a new avian force - a company of pigeons. The birds are meant to be the military equivalent of a canary in a coal mine. During a possible invasion of Iraq, they are to ride with a caretaker in armored vehicles. If they start to get...