Marine seems to hurl puppy off cliff in video
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writerPosted : Monday Mar 3, 2008 18:43:59 EST
A video that appears to show an armor-clad Marine hurling a small puppy off a cliff and joking with his buddies as it smashes against a rock-strewn desert landscape has sparked outrage online and an investigation by commanders in Hawaii.
A 22-year-old lance corporal from Seattle was named in several online postings as the “puppy killer” and accused of being a “sociopath.” A home address for the Marine was posted on several sites, with at least one urging readers to “make him pay.”
Marine Corps Times could not confirm his identity.
As the puppy flies through the air, the video’s soundtrack features a distinct yelping sound, but Dejournett said that could have been edited in afterward. She noted that the squealing sound does not diminish as the puppy appears to fade in the distance.
To some degree, she said, it doesn’t matter whether the Marines were torturing the puppy or playing with a dead animal.
“Regardless, it is horrifying and it’s not the kind of behavior that we want to see our troops engaging in,” Dejournett said.
View the video (Warning: This video may be disturbing to some viewers)
The reactions to the event are interesting to study. First, it wasn't my puppy, so I can't muster the notion that I've got to harbor some proxy outrage. I'm responsible for every animal I adopt. Secondly, and if this is real, it seems to put on parade some behavioral patterns that is much more alarming than 20 dead puppies. Finally, it sort of puts the mindlessly patriotic on notice that the military might not be made up of the selfless poster boys, which the public is regularly fed in order to make sympathy come out the other end.
ReplyDeleteWhether real or not, it is a shame that a US Marine would reflect this kind of behavior on all Marines. There are those of us in the blogsphere who have gone to "war" defend our Marines against the Marxist jerks in Beserkley, CA and the every idiot troll on the left that likes to take the image of our troops being baby killers and try to make the rest of the country believe it...are running with this. Real or not, this Marine doesn't deserve to call himself one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great comment. There are a lot of people who should not be wearing the uniform. If you read about gang members once banned getting in, felons, others with criminal records, then you know this is true. When things like this happen, they need to be held accountable. If it is fake, as suggested by the representative, then they still need to be held accountable. It's disgusting that anyone would even think of doing this and even more reprehensible they thought it was funny.
ReplyDeletehoosierarmymom, thanks for the comment.
ReplyDeleteI am curious about your idea of what you think people on the left are though. I am on the left. My parents were both Democrats and my father was a Korean War vet, who was 100% disabled. He passed away at the age of 58. My husband is a Democrat. He's a Vietnam vet 100% disabled by PTSD and a Bronze Star. His father was a Democrat and a WWII veteran with a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. So were his uncles, also WWII veterans and decorated. I've been doing this work for 25 years trying to make sure that all the veterans in this country are taken care of and to eradicate the stigma of PTSD. This work I do for free out of love for all of them.
While I do agree there are some nuts on the left, there is a greater majority of us who deeply care about those who serve this nation. There are a lot of people on the "right" who also agree the invasion and occupation of Iraq was unnecessary and poorly planned by the administration from the reason to do it, the way to do it, the proper plans that we needed to finish it and above all taking care of the wounded this would create when they were fully aware this would go on for years. Most of the people in the administration were involved in the Gulf War and they used their intelligence as reasons to not go after Saddam after he was pushed out of Kuwait. None of this was a surprise no matter what Bush and his supporters claimed. It's all on record from 1991 to 1998 in public statements they made defending their reasoning for not doing it back then.
You should also keep in mind that there are also some nuts on the right too. The kind of people who will call me a Patriot and hero for what I do and then call me a traitor the next minute. Most people on the right have enough common sense to look at what I do and why I do it as a human who thinks the men and women who wear the uniform are among the finest this nation has. They are a rarity and should be honored as such. Yet as with most groups, there are also people in the military who do not belong there.
If the people on my side are running with this instead of looking at the entire video, then they are wrong. There are too many questions this video raises.
Oh, I get it. When the military kills one Iraqi puppy, the violence is evil, cold-hearted and unnecessary. But when the military invades a country and kills 85,000 Iraqi civilians (at a minimum), the soldiers are just a bunch of heroes doing their jobs. Give me a break...
ReplyDeleteIf the news you read only tells you about the puppy, it's time to get your news from somewhere else.
You don't get much. It was not in Iraq. It was in Hawaii. The next thing you don't get is that the soldiers are not the ones who decided to go into Iraq and most of them don't want to be there at all. Why do you think the bulk of their contributions into presidential campaigns has gone to Ron Paul and Obama? Paul voted against sending them into Iraq. Obama was against it but did not get to vote. He wasn't in the Senate yet. Bush is the one who decided to do this and it's the men and women who wanted to serve this county paying the price. That's what this blog is all about but if you knew more you would also know that I have another blog where I do state my political views, but since you brought it up here you go:
ReplyDeleteThe people of Iraq were no threat to us and all the evidence proves this was a farce.
They died and are dying and are suffering because of Bush.
None of this was a surprise as Bush stated and the media supported.
They all knew exactly what they were committing the troops to and it was not going to last six days, six weeks or six months, but many, many years. Bush didn't care. He also didn't lift one finger to plan for the wounded. Top that off with the fact because he abandoned Afghanistan, the troops are dying there too and the Taliban are taking back a lot of territory.
This was about power, money and greed and the only people who are happy about this are the defense contractors filling their bank accounts with blood money.
This blog is about those who serve it, currently and in the past yet still paying the price for it.
The other thing you don't get is that if you read this blog you would also know how appalled I am that this post drew more hits than post on soldiers committing suicide because they are not being taken care of. Evidently you are one of them too. You must care a lot more about a video about the "puppy toss" than you do about troops committing suicide for what Bush forced them to do.
I am a Marine. I served with respect and honor, even respecting our enemies and holding myself and my men to a high standard of conduct.
ReplyDeleteThis video disturbs me on a level that is hard to explain...but I will try. While deployed to Somalia back in 1993, a small precious puppy decided to make us his adopted family. We shared our food and water and looked out for him for several weeks. We would have brought him back with us if we could have. A pet can bring peace to your soul in the midst of the worst circumstances.
Marines are the toughest and most well trained fighting force on the planet as a whole, and I can say that if this idiot had tried this in our unit that we would have thrown him of the cliff and kept the dog.
Please do not disregard the high standard that most of the 190,000 Marines live up too, because of this punk who should have never made it out of boot camp acts.
As for the morons that are threatening his family you need to calm down. He did this not his parents. If you lower yourself so far as to take out your aggression on them who are innocent then you are no better than this disgraceful idiot who has done this foul deed.
A US MARINE.
Bradfordreynolds, thank you for the comment. Just on the news this morning (I'll post it in a little bit) the Marines involved are facing their fate. This is not the normal way Marines act. To take it out on the families of these Marines is disgusting. You are right to point that out.
ReplyDeleteWhy do people forget that the men and women serving this nation are still humans like the rest of us? There are people in all walks of life with terrible judgment and do disgraceful things, say disgraceful things just to get a reaction from someone else. These Marines must have done it for the attention they knew would come. Why else would they have taped it? They wanted to shock and to get attention. Too bad that it didn't matter to them they would bring negative attention to themselves and their brothers in the Marines.