Sickening: The grinning soldier holds the puppy aloft
and then throws it off a hillside
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."
There was a very long and heated thread on 4chan regarding this incident yesterday. Some said the dog was already dead and the yelping sounds were dubbed in.
Scroll through this slide show. The mods won't let me post the photos here! Pay attention especially to this one and this one. Perspective.
IRAQI CHILDREN GET NEW WHEELS
By Sgt. 1st Class Kerensa Hardy, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
Dec 14, 2007 - 1:17:55 PM
CAMP STRIKER, Iraq - Fifteen Iraqi children can now get around a little easier thanks to the new wheels they received at the Radwaniyah Palace Complex Civil-Military Operations Center Dec. 13.
Rakkasan medics from 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), assembled the chairs that were donated by an organization called Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids.
The wheelchairs were given to disabled children who 1-33rd Cav. Regt. Soldiers encountered while conducting patrols. Company A, 478th Civil Affairs Company, 3rd Civil Affairs Battalion, attached to 1-33rd Cav. Regt., coordinated transportation and helped fit the children with the chairs at the Civil-Military Operations Center.
“I can’t imagine what it must be like having to carry your child around from place to place,” said Capt. James Phillips, 1-33rd Cav. Regt. battalion surgeon. “I’m just glad we were able to do something to help.”
Some of the children’s conditions have yet to be officially diagnosed, but they all require assistance getting around. Without sufficient medical care and no means to get necessary help, the wheelchair donations were a blessing to the families of these handicapped children.
Phillips said it was a little heartbreaking to see children who, in some cases, were teenagers and just getting their first wheelchairs, but he was glad to see their quality of life improve.
“This is a great feeling that you help our kids,” said Ihsaa Hadi, whose 13-year-old son received a wheelchair. Hadi had a hard time expressing his gratitude and said he hadn’t realized the U.S. Army could help him like this.
Noor Mustafa, 7-years-old, has limited use of her legs. She was orphaned when her parents passed away and is now in the care of her aunt. “It’s a wonderful feeling to have the wheelchair,” said Madoor, Noor’s aunt. “I always have to carry her from place to place; now I have this wheelchair.”
While giving handicapped children a means to get around may seem like a reward in itself, the founder of Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids, Brad Blauser, said it’s also a means of supporting the troops on the ground. “I can’t provide a wheelchair for every child in Iraq but I encourage the Army to use these for their strategic advantage … to win the hearts and minds of the people who will help (them) the most.”
In 2005, he helped get wheelchairs sent to the Mosul area and said it resulted in less attacks on U.S. Soldiers operating in the area.
“If you help an adult, their family really appreciates it,” said Blauser, from Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. “If you help a small child it touches the heart of the whole community.”
Two years ago Blauser had people sending care packages and study Bibles for deployed troops, but they wanted to do more. He went to a friend and asked how people could do more. “Wheelchairs for children, we see a lot of children … who drag themselves on the ground,” was his friend’s reply.
The friend, then Maj. David Brown, had watched an Iraqi boy struggle with a wheelchair that was too big and therefore useless to him. “He wanted to be able to help the boy but he didn’t know how,” Blauser said. “I put an e-mail out and within 30 days we had 31 kids’ wheelchairs on the ground.”
With that, Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids was born. Wheels for the World, Wheels of Love and Reach Out and Care Wheels, along with individual contributors, are responsible for the success of Blauser’s brainchild.
The chairs handed out Dec. 13 were sent by www.ROCwheels.org, an organization that makes specialty high-quality pediatric wheelchairs designed for use in developing nations.
Blauser, who is the Kellog, Brown & Root theater safety manager for Leir Seigler, Inc., has been in Iraq for three years and says his work here is not done. To date, he has been the impetus for 250 wheelchairs, 4,500 study Bibles and 1,500 care packages that have been sent to Iraq.
Realizing that he won’t be in Iraq forever, Blauser said he wants to continue supporting the troops any way he can - the wheelchairs are just one avenue. “There is so much good that could be done here, I honestly don’t know how I can go home,” he said.
Two different camera angles, one from above the cliff and one from below, suggests a staged event.
I did not say it was not disturbing.
However, they way people are reacting here implies that FR wants to start equating animal life with human life, and by doing that would be sickening.
In the end, it is simply a dog. Not a girl, not a boy. But a mere dog.
True. And you’re right, I should have prefaced my comments with a big “IF this is real” disclaimer.
Sidebar at YouTube says they don’t know if the dog is already dead. The dog does not move at all when the soldier is holding it by the scruff of the neck. But even if the dog is already dead, it’s sick to film it.
The best enemy propaganda is when the enemy gets you to propagandize for them. Think Walter Duranty and Lenin's comments about "useful idiots."
Enemy propaganda made with the cooperation of a couple of evil Marines, most likely. :^(
Probably.
I suppose it could be a muslim Marine, muslims hate dogs as unclean animals.
Well, of course it's "staged." The question is whether or not it's real. I'm not going to view the video to figure it out, though.
Is it even a real dog?
What kind of accent does the puppy thrower have? At the end it sounds Canadian, eh?
If there are two different angles (I haven’t watched it) of course it was staged. Young people film everything they do these days.
The questions are: are these guys Marines? And was the dog alive?
Good point. Abu Ghraib was likewise “enemy propaganda” in that sense. The bad guys can and do get a lot of mileage out of crap like that....
It was a dumb thing to do. Not a horrible crime. It looks like the dog is already dead. So a sick joke came out of it.
That place is a hellhole.
I give them the benefot of the doubt.
Gonna have to be really sick before I criticize our troops.
A Mei Lie incident for example.
How about this:
Do you think if this is real that they would publicly release this video? How did this video get out? Was this dog alive or dead? Was it even a dog at all and not a fake dog(ie plush or stuffed) there is alot of questions to be asked, like the uniform (did I miss it where is his digi’s?).There is alot more to this than meets the eye.
I watched it. The puppy looks very stiff especially the way it moves through the air and the yelping is definitely somebody off camera.
Good point. Still a stupid film.
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