Posted on 03/04/2008 6:36:57 AM PST by yankeedame
Last updated at 13:49pm on 4th March 2008
The U.S. military are investigating a shocking video of a smiling Marine throwing a puppy off the top of a steep hillside in Iraq into a gully below.
The video gained widespread attention and condemnation after appearing on the web site YouTube, where it has been viewed over 8,000 times.
The footage shows two Marines, in combat gear and smiling, as one holds a white-and-black puppy by the scruff of its neck.
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Sickening: The grinning soldier holds the puppy aloft
and then throws it off a hillside
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The small dog seems to be about eight weeks old and is motionless as it is held.
"Cute little puppy, huh?" says one Marine as he smiles broadly.
"Oh so cute, so cute, little puppy," says another in a child-like voice.
The Marine holding the puppy then turns and hurls the animal overhand into a desert-like gully below.
The puppy can be heard yelping in terror until it thuds to the ground at the bottom of the gully.
"That's mean," one Marine says after, in a sickening understatement.
"The video is shocking and deplorable and is contrary to the high standards we expect of every Marine," a spokesperson revealed.
Marine spokesman Major Chris Perrine believed the culprit is based in Hawaii.
"We do not tolerate this type of behaviour and will take appropriate action," he said.
The 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment of about 1,000 Hawaii Marines recently replaced a sister unit in Iraq, the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.
Marine Corps Base Hawaii said the vast majority of Marines "conduct their duties in an honourable manner that brings great credit upon the Marine Corps and the United States."
"There have been numerous stories of Marines adopting pets and bringing them home from Iraq or helping to arrange life-saving medical care for Iraqi children," said Major Chris Perrine.
"Those are the stories that exemplify what we stand for and how most Marines behave."
It looks and sounds 100% fake. It’s disgusting nonetheless.
STAFF SGT TRACY DAVIDSON GOES BEYOND DUTY TO RUN IRAQI BURN CLINIC
Air Force Link ^ | Tech. Sgt. D. Clare
Posted on 12/17/2007 4:42:46 PM PST by SandRat
12/17/2007 - BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) — When Army Cpl. Joseph Barzeski invited Staff Sgt. Tracy Davidson to tour the Convoy Support Center’s burn clinic in Scania, Iraq, he didn’t think she would be back. But she did come back, again and again.
“I didn’t think she was going to want to stay, but she wanted to help,” said the corporal. “She just fell right into it.”
Since that day in mid-July, Sergeant Davidson has assisted nearly every day the clinic has been open. She’s become a fixture at the facility as a care provider for families, and a resource for combat medics who endure stress.
Corporal Barzeski, a combat medic for the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, and NCO in charge of the clinic, said the sergeant’s contributions are invaluable. As a female, she is a comfort to the parents and girls whose burns often cover most of their bodies.
Likewise, as a mental health technician in an “in-lieu-of” tasking in support of the Army, she’s there to listen and support the medics and Soldiers who rely on her for emotional support.
Sergeant Davidson has logged more than 850 hours treating children at the clinic. Based on the impact she has had on patients, her command developed a Personnel Asset Sharing agreement that allows her to officially assist all three days the clinic is open plus volunteering after duty hours.
Burns are prolific among Iraqi children. The majority are caused by household hazards like children pulling hot tea kettles or pans from stoves onto themselves and gas explosions, said Corporal Barzeski, who is deployed from Fort Bragg, N.C.,
Though they are not able to provide the level of care that a patient might receive in the U.S., the treatment they provide exceed the level of care that children might receive at an Iraqi hospital.
Sergeant Davidson pointed to a case where a female patient came in with trash bags on her hands and burns covering her from chest to ankles.
“When we saw her, we didn’t think she was going to live. (Iraqi doctors) were going to cut her hands off,” she said. “I saw her last week and she can grab my hands. She has good use of one of her hands and the other is coming along,” she said.
As the clinic reaches milestones treating patients, word has spread among communities near and far — despite the dangers and intimidation families encounter enroute to the American outpost.
They have limited options and are referred to the clinic by Iraqi hospitals, especially in instances where they can not afford to pay for care, Corporal Barzeski said.
Despite the cries and struggles of the children in their care, Sergeant Davidson and Corporal Barzeski are motivated by the results their efforts yield, and the relationships they build over time with Iraqi families, they said.
“I can’t imagine the pain these kids go through. But if we didn’t do it, nobody else is going to,” said Sergeant Davidson, who is deployed from Hill Air Force Base, Utah. “The two-year-old in pain isn’t going to be grateful for what we’re doing, but the parents have seen what happens to kids who don’t get the care.
“It helps a lot as far as what the opinions are of the Americans. Word is out all over the place about how we have treated people with burns,” she said.
For help building these relationships, Sergeant Davidson and the Soldiers here turn to their supporters at home. She’s received donations of clothes and toys for the children from her family and a church in her hometown in Lincoln, Neb.
“We’re receiving tons of help from all over, people want to support this mission,’ said Corporal Barzeski. “It makes us feel good that we’re really doing something to help these people. Even just to take a little tiny chunk of the population and make a difference, to make it so that people can come back and say the Americans helped us. That makes it all worthwhile.”
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True, but this still smacks of being staged. I’d like to hear from somebody currently in the Marines to know if the uniform and gear are authentic, etc. That’s usually a dead giveaway.
Besides, after Abu Ghraib who would be stupid enough to anything of this sort on camera?
Unless you happened to be standing next to this individual as the act occurred, you know nothing. Therefore your opinion is just that: an opinion. And everybody has one of those.
Despite what mummy and daddy might have told you, yours is no more important than any other.
You like puppies, you think violence against animals is deplorable; it's an admirable position and we get it. I would suggest you drop the hyperbole, however. It does not serve your argument well.
Not a marine, but I am an amateur military historian...and I have freinds who are Marines...unless it’s the resolution of the photos, I do not think those are MARPAT uniforms. This smells like a fake.
To you and everyone else who is assuming this happened in Iraq - please read the article. Apparently, this happened in Hawaii. Hardly a war-torn, stressful environment.
These guys should be court-martialed - period.
My brother served in Iraq. His opinion on this is no different than mine.
He had witnessed many brutalities over there, brutalities against dogs being one. He intervened when possible, but still cannot talk about some of it.
It has nothing to do with being “here” or “there”. If one cannot be decent to living creatures who pose no threat, they sould not be wearing the unifrom. Period.
What does Southern California have to do with it? There are plenty from SoCal serving honorably in the armed services.
I invite you to Camp Pendleton so that you can make your claim...or retract it.
And we know it is alive how?
Animal is animal. When you start anthromorphosizing animals that destroys how special humans are. God gave humans souls. Not a dog.
That is what is wrong with our country. We are raising pets instead of raising children. We are a society that is dying because of people like you who wants to make animals ‘special’.
They are not. They are not in the same level as person. And the day they we start giving them ‘rights’ is the day our society has failed.
You are the one who is sick.
Here's the first sentence. "The U.S. military are investigating a shocking video of a smiling Marine throwing a puppy off the top of a steep hillside in Iraq into a gully below."
LOL, great video. It also 'looks' very real.
Good point.
Perfect. . .until they get into the trash to get a meat wrapper, throw up on your new carpet, or get excited and pee all over the floor.
But I love 'em.
The pup never moves, and the 'yelp' sounds very much staged.
LOL. What an ignorant, obnoxious post.
I eat meat, btw, but don’t have some perverted knee-jerk reaction to people who are vegetarians. (rolls eyes)
The camo pattern looks like DCUs. Which means that is would be a fairly old video.
“God gave humans souls. Not a dog.”
And you know this how? God talk to you personally?
If it moves, God breathed life into it.
An animal has every RIGHT to exist as you do.
What makes you so special?
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