U.S. Soldiers and Animal Abuse

I was looking at dog books on amazon.com when I came across something very interesting. There is a recent book out titled From Baghdad, With Love: A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava. It sounds like an incredible book, but what caught my attention was a post written by the author about a leaked video of U.S. soldiers beating an injured dog in Iraq. I encourage you to read what he has to say, especially the part about the U.S. General Orders making it illegal for him to rescue the dog, Lava, from Iraq.

I haven't yet had the courage to watch the video. If you watch it yourself, I'd be interested to hear your comments. HERE'S THE LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Baghdad-Love-..._1_3/104-9107007-6008757?ie=UTF8&s=books[url]

Scroll down to the part titled "Disturbing Video of Animal Abuse."

They did a piece about this soldier and Lava on either CNN or 60 minutes.

It was very interesting....now he has a book out, too??

I don't think I can look at the disturbing video...but thanks for the link.

Maybe someone else will comment on it.

I can't sleep if I watch anything of that sort....can't abide abuse of any kind.

Needed to watch the SM videos, but even that upset me. Especially the severe cavvie....til I read that it was pts. Poor baby!! :flwr: :flwr:

I *do* appreciate that they were for education and thank the owners. :flwr:

i have amazon prime. That makes it so hard to just say no to buying a book. that one is on the way to me now, due on Tuesday. After reading the reviews, i couldn't resist because according to the reviewers it's a riveting book that's hard to put down, and it is said to be uplifting and joyful.

as for the video, i looked at it, first turning down the sound so zack wouldn't hear it. he goes nuts over any sound coming from the computer anyway.

It's not nearly as disturbing or hard to look at as i thought from the descriptions. It's definitely sad and angering, but the description prepared me for worse.

I expected to see "soldiers beating a dog." What i saw was, a sad wounded dog laying in the dirt, then a rock lands near it, it bares its teeth and seems to be barking, "stay away from me," the camera shows two soldiers. One is just standing there, the other lobs another rock at the dog, it seems to hit the dog though it's hard to see, it's not thrown hard, more of a lob, but still quite cruel as the dog is being victimized and appparently taunted, and is distressed.

there's no way of knowing whether it was the soldiers who wounded the dog in the first place. It's certainly possible but the video begins after the dog has been wounded.

there are a couple more rocks thrown, then the dog gets up to run away. It has one useless leg, and seems to have a hard time running. It falls. then gets back up and keeps moving away from the soldiers and the camera shows the same soldier who had been shown throwing the rock, and he was laughing at the dog.

it doesn't show more than one soldier harming the dog, although the soldiers are off camera for most of the video so others may have been throwing rocks too. It just shows one guy, first throwing a rock and then laughing at the dog who is running away. mostly it shows the poor dog's reactions, baring its teeth, barking and then running away, fallling down, looking back over its shoulder at the soldiers.

the soldier should be identified and discharged from the army. He should be charged with the appropriate civilian crime.

I wouldn't describe it as 'soldiers beating a wounded dog.' i would describe it as a soldier sadistically tormenting a dog, throwing rocks at it and laughing.

i commend the author for publishing the video, maybe drawing attention to the incident will prevent this happening to other dogs. if it helps one dog, it's a good thing.

Judy - thanks for telling me what the video is...I don't think I could bear to watch it.

Zippy - you're right...the sm video is very hard to watch...and I too was relieved to know that poor little one is no longer suffering. It haunted me.

I don't know...if you can beat or torment a dog...what does that say about you as a "human" being...not much in my opinion!

Cathy T said:

Zippy - you're right...the sm video is very hard to watch...and I too was relieved to know that poor little one is no longer suffering. It haunted me.

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I just watched the 3 SM videos yesterday and definately it was very hard to watch. I found the hardest part was after his "fit" was over being seen wagging his tail. I'm not sure I am wording this correctly, but if a dog has cancer per say all of their day is bad. But with SM their are periods in between they appear happy. Ofcourse the pain part is too much so the decision to PT is right but harder for the owner I think. Similar to what I had to decide in Oct.

Sorry for highjacking and taking the focus off the book but having seen it viewed it yesterday, the SM videos a mental image stuck in my head.

As for the book video - I agree if something has been made so public, the Government is more than capable of identifying the soldier, and no excuse is acceptable for not putting forth the effort to find and charge or dismiss him. Actually with all the bad that came over there - it would do the army some good to show they at least wont tolerate it and act.

I certainly hope that video of that poor dog gets around and that all the soldiers who were there are taken care of....as in formally charged with animal abuse and whatever else. We don't need people like that in our military, they need to be locked up. I shouldn't say this, but maybe those awful people who did that to the dog won't ever come back home.

Sydney here,

I ran across this thread and agree that the video is disturbing and I could never understand any human being cruel to a dog like myself. In the interest of fairness, these soldiers are probably in the minority. I understand from my Dad that there are many soldiers who love dogs just like us and would risk life and limb to save even the lowliest of my relatives. He even left a picture he got at work on his computer as proof and I am including it below. Scroll down and see what I mean. This picture was taken outside of Baghdad and each of these soldiers is risking being shot while trying to save a dog who was trapped in an irrigation ditch and couldn't climb out. I like to think these soldiers are the majority, not the ones from the video.

Sydney in Virginia

Sydney said:

Sydney here,

I ran across this thread and agree that the video is disturbing and I could never understand any human being cruel to a dog like myself. In the interest of fairness, these soldiers are probably in the minority. I understand from my Dad that there are many soldiers who love dogs just like us and would risk life and limb to save even the lowliest of my relatives. He even left a picture he got at work on his computer as proof and I am including it below. Scroll down and see what I mean. This picture was taken outside of Baghdad and each of these soldiers is risking being shot while trying to save a dog who was trapped in an irrigation ditch and couldn't climb out. I like to think these soldiers are the majority, not the ones from the video.

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Yes Sydney (I'm writing a dog....COOL!) you are right. It's important to look at both sides. For me, I agree and realize what your saying, but my concern, is the lack of action against those noted/videotaped in performing questionable activity. The best way to ensure the bulk of caring soldiers get the respect they deserve, is to see to it, the offenders are held up and reprimanded.

P.S. Send Kodee tips on typing to save me the time in responding!

My husband returned last summer from a 15 month deployment to Afghanistan. He was the 3rd or 4th team sent to this remote part of Northern Afghanistan. They befriended several dogs and turned them into pets. Some had been living in the camp for several years. These dogs slept with the soldiers, and ate steak and lobster whenever the soldiers did, and warned of intruders. The soldiers had family members send dog toys and treats when they could have asked for amenities for themselves.

I agree that torture of an animal by a soldier is unacceptable, but from my view, you rarely hear all of the animal stories that were totally opposite of the story being discussed - frankly, because there is very little " WOW factor" in them.

We should remember that animal abuse (ranging from mild to the extreme) happens here and abroad every day by all kinds of people - we have all seen some type of abuse either on TV or in real life - and it is all just as unacceptable as this scenario.

KingstonsMom said:

I was looking at dog books on amazon.com when I came across something very interesting. There is a recent book out titled From Baghdad, With Love: A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava. It sounds like an incredible book, but what caught my attention was a post written by the author about a leaked video of U.S. soldiers beating an injured dog in Iraq. I encourage you to read what he has to say, especially the part about the U.S. General Orders making it illegal for him to rescue the dog, Lava, from Iraq.

I haven't yet had the courage to watch the video. If you watch it yourself, I'd be interested to hear your comments. HERE'S THE LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Baghdad-Love-..._1_3/104-9107007-6008757?ie=UTF8&s=books[url]



Scroll down to the part titled "Disturbing Video of Animal Abuse."

Click to expand...

I bought this book for my mom for Christmas!!

great photo sydney.
of course, the book is about a marine officer who was willing to destroy his career and take on the whole military authority to save a puppy.
there are all kinds of people in all walks of life.