Hard Wired

Well, it's good to know that our strongest allies in the War on Terror are totally secure.

Britain's defence ministry was investigating Tuesday how a spoof video of a comedy pop song by soldiers in Iraq temporarily crashed its computer system last week after too many staff downloaded the clip over the Internet, a spokesman said.

A group of soldiers took time out from their work in the battle-torn country to film a joke version of "(Is This The Way To) Amarillo", featuring comedian Peter Kay, itself a charity remake of the 1970s hit by Tony Christie.

The film, featuring a Kay look-alike Sergeant Roger Parr and a series of side kicks, was emailed back to army friends at home and proved so funny it spread like wildfire around the defence ministry.

Don't fret, though. They've got free health care.