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Dog Eat Dog in Iraq
by freesoulJAH - trews.org - March 5, 2008
Recently the two sides of the occupation of Iraq were revealed to the American public. One is a story of a Marine who saves a dog from the hellfire of war, the other is a video which surfaced showing a different Marine tossing a helpless puppy off of a cliff to it's death.
One US Marine found hope and compassion in his new companion, while the other found a dark void of feeling:
Marine Major Brian Dennis, of St. Pete Beach, Fl., holding his adopted dog, Nubs"While on patrol in the Anbar province, Dennis spotted what appeared to be a gray and white, male German shepherd-border collie mix. He named the dog Nubs after learning someone cut the ears off believing it would make the dog more aggressive and alert.
Within weeks, Nubs was greeting Dennis during routine patrol stops along border communities. The Marines fed him bits of their food and by November, the Marine and his unit were keeping an eye out for the dog, which routinely chased their Humvees when they departed.
Life on the run, however, was taking a toll on the dog. He had lost a tooth and been bitten in the neck. In late December, Dennis found Nubs near death in freezing temperatures. The dog had been stabbed with a screwdriver."
Thanks to the compassionate Marine, the dog eventually wound up in San Diego, safe from harm and awaiting the homecoming of his new best friend.
But the dark story of the other Marine does not have such a happy ending, and the story isn't over. Footage surfaced of a soldier tossing a helpless puppy over the edge of a clff, to its frightful death.
David Mortari, throwing a puppy off a cliff to its death."David Mortari, a US Marine from Monroe, Washington, was a nobody until Tuesday, March 4th, 2008, but he is finally getting his 15 minutes of fame, which is really infamy in this case. The marine in question is shown, in a video that was posted on Youtube.com, allegedly tossing a cute little puppy off of a cliff to its death.
The puppy could be heard yelping as it flew through the air until it crashed onto the rocks below and bounced, then hitting even more rocks.
Youtube quickly removed the video from its site as soon as the disturbing nature of the video was learned. However, thousands of Youtube surfers viewed the video before it was removed.
Since then, other Youtube members have reposted the video, and Youtube has apparently decided to let it remain on its site."
The psychological effects of war on a person are enormous, and it is certain that they played a role in what took place. The problem is that these soldiers in psychological distress are not being taken seriously, with suicides at a record level and other self destructive behavior being ignored or forgotten. These situations bring the terrible realities of war into the light.
The two dog stories are highly symbolic of the United States occupation of Iraq, and of how the US can be seen as both friendly liberators and enemy invaders. Every day soldiers are making life and death situations when it comes to dealing with civilians caught up in the war. Estimates cite over 1 million casualties since the US invasion of Iraq, and with no end in sight those numbers continue to climb.
sources:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/WireStory?id=4329210
http://inthespotlite.blogspot.com/2008/03/us-marine-throws-puppy-off-cli...
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/01/30/ST20080130...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12777489
