This Is Not from the Onion

We're fighting terrorists with Silly String, according to Time, via Wired's Furthermore blog:

Makers of improvised explosive devices -- the dreaded IEDs that kill and maim in Iraq -- aren't the only ones getting inventive during the war. U.S. troops in the country turn to Silly String to help detect booby traps' trip wires, according to a report in Time magazine. "We force Marine trainees to improvise," said a Marine Corps spokesman. Since the Pentagon doesn't issue Silly String to troops, a grass-roots effort to export the canned amusement is erupting. A California woman is shipping holiday care packages containing the gooey stuff to her son's Marine unit in Iraq, and New Jersey churches are mounting a similar campaign at the urging of an Army specialists' parents.

Jesus wept... I mean it's one thing to get Marines to improvise to changing conditions and tactics. But could you maybe give them the tools to improvise with so that the folks at home aren't having to go to ToysRUs to send Silly String to Iraq to save their loved ones' lives and limbs?