Photo: Hollywood Pictures

According to the Chilcot report, a seven-year investigation commissioned by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown into Britain’s entrance into Iraq in 2003, British Intelligence used details lifted from a Michael Bay movie as part of their intel that Saddam Hussein’s regime was creating toxic nerve agents. In 2002, the M16 report apparently relied on a source who claimed a factory in Al-Yarmuk was manufacturing VX, sarin, and soman, nerve gases which were then stored in “linked hollow glass spheres.” However, according to the report, “glass containers were not typically used in chemical munitions.” Where might someone have gotten that extremely specific and erroneous detail? Why, Michael Bay’s 1996 action-thriller The Rock, of course. Despite the error, the source was cited in a report about Iraq’s chemical-weapons program. Then Prime Minister Tony Blair leaned on M16’s data when making the argument that Britain should join the U.S. in invading Iraq in March 2003. It was discovered by June 2003 that M16’s source had been a “fabricator who had lied from the outset.” All of which suggests that any sources claiming that, say, Kim Jong-un is currently battling a team of anthropomorphic humanoid teenage turtle boys, should be vetted with extreme caution.