Marine kills dog. Nation World froths at mouth:
A US Marine has become the target of a massive internet hate campaign after a mobile phone video appearing to show him throwing a puppy off a cliff in Iraq became a viral hit.
Some 150,000 people watched the video in less than two days before it was taken down from the YouTube website this morning. More than 4,000 posted comments, overwhelmingly negative, although many questioned whether the dog was already dead.
The low-quality video shows two Marines in combat joking as one holds up what appears to be a motionless black and white puppy, which he then hurls into a rocky gully. A loud yelping sound is heard as it flies through the air.
Major Chris Perrine of the Marine Corps Base Hawaii says it appears the man is based with a unit in the islands. In a statement the Marines called the video "shocking and deplorable" and said it violates "the high standard we expect of every Marine".
Wow. Someone prone to animal cruelty somehow made it through the uplifting and nurturing Sunday picnic known as Marine Corps boot camp. I'm speechless.
A number of US websites named the perpetrator as David Motari, a 22-year-old from Washington state who has recently returned from Iraq and is based in Hawaii. Mr Motari's profile on the social networking site Bebo was closed down yesterday.
Some sites posted his personal details, phone numbers and even a picture of his car, while other bloggers called for him to be ostracised. Others said that the video was simply bringing home the horrors of the Iraq war.
This massive outpouring of outrage tells me we've been going about this process all wrong, anti-war comrades. We shouldn't be clamoring for an end to the campaign in Iraq because of the the naked falsehoods put forth by the Bush Administration in order to justify our invasion, the constantly shifting rationales, the almost 4,000 dead American soldiers, or the over 70,000 dead Iraqi civilians; no, we need to stop the war for the sake of all those innocent puppies.
Seriously, I hope this doesn't have a negative impact on sales of the 101 Dalmatians DVD.
Over at the Agitator, Radley Balko reports a lot on SWAT-style drug raids gone bad. He says that the ones that attract the most public outrage are overwhelmingly the ones in which the SWAT guys abuse, injure, or kill the family dog.
“If he’d chucked an Iraqi off a cliff, he’d have plenty of online supporters by now.”
I recall a couple of kids at my high school running around with petitions for Lt. William Calley and other members of Charlie Company, so there is a historical precedent.
Nobody likes civilians, but puppies are so cute! They can’t help it.
There’s a Mike Vick joke in there somewhere. Just… can’t… reach it…
If Mr. Vick’s victims had been human, he’d have received a lighter sentence.
Oh, sorry. My comment should have been in joke form.
…they train young men to drop fire on people, but they won’t allow them to write ‘fsck’ on their airplanes - because it’s obscene!
If he’d chucked an Iraqi off a cliff, he’d have plenty of online supporters by now.