CNN broadcast a horrible video today that featured a Marine allegedly tossing a sweet little black-and-white puppy over a rocky cliff. Allegedly for fun. The video was posted on YouTube, although You Tube (thankfully) has now removed it. I have a TV in my office and when I saw this I almost threw up. As I have written in so many diaries, I cannot imagine what goes on in the heart or mind of someone who would voluntarily abuse animals. And I weep for animals who are tortured or abused. I do not understand (and hope that I never will) the mindset that finds it acceptable to torture animals or children.
And I would have written about that helpless puppy tonight, except that I found out that someone else already did.
But I am writing about that helpless puppy again tonight because I found the earlier diary nearly as sad as the fate of that poor puppy.
First, I would like to say that Dood Abides says that the video of the puppy torture may have been faked. While I hope this is true (for the sake of the sweet little puppy), I find this disturbing anyway. It’s almost as sick and disgusting to fake the horrific death of a sweet puppy (and broadcast it for "fun" on YouTube) as it is to actually have killed a sweet puppy for "broadcast fun." What kind of person would fake this?
More importantly, though, was the conclusion of so many people that this kind of horrific animal abuse was emblematic of our military. It is not.
Three weeks ago, I wrote a diary about Sgt. Peter Neesley, who died on Christmas Day in Iraq. This is the introduction to that diary:
All soldiers wish for two things: Another day and the chance to come home.
Sgt. Peter Neesley had a third wish: He wanted to bring the stray dogs -- Mama and Boris -- he had befriended in Iraq home with him.
Sgt. Peter Neesley did not get either of his first two wishes. On Christmas Day, from causes still unexplained, he died.
Today, though, thanks to Best Friends Animal Society, his last wish came true.
This is a picture of Sgt. Neesley with one of his dog friends, which I am allowed to republish courtesy of Best Friends Animal Society:
You can read more about him here and here.
Sgt. Peter Neesley was a great American. It was my sad honor to write about his death in Iraq for the IGTNT series; it was also my sad honor to write about the sweet homecoming of the dogs he loved so much.
No one can dispute that a tiny minority of the soldiers, sailors, Marines, Airmen or National Guard deployed to the horrific and unnecessary occupation of Iraq have behaved shamefully. We have all seen the pictures from Abu Ghraib; we have read the stories about the rapes and killings.
But they are, I believe, a very tiny minority; and without going into a long essay about the problems the military is having with recruiting (and the lowering or abandoning of traditional standards about education, mental stability and background), I’m sure we can all agree that the vast majority of young Americans who volunteer for our military (or come out of our military academies) to serve their country do so for what they believe are good reasons.
I have a bias here, of course. I was born at the United States Naval Academy to a proud Naval pilot (and professor) who was the proud son of the 12th Marine Pilot in United States history, who served in World War I.
But I do not think that I am biased in saying that I was horrified (and remain horrified) by some of the comments I saw here today, that branded all of our soldiers, sailors, Marines, Airmen and National Guard as animal abusers or lowlifes of other kinds. The vast majority -- the overwhelming majority -- of them are good people. They are simply men and women who volunteered to serve their country and got caught up in a national tragedy over which they had no control whatsoever.
This Administration hates the military. There isn’t any other way to describe how they have treated our military since they came into office. If this Administration really "supported our troops," the situation at Walter Reed would never have happened, we would not have hundreds of thousands of returning warriors waiting (for six months or a year or two years) to get their benefits, we would not have wounded soldiers waiting a year for a medical discharge on the basis of wounds suffered at war. But we do.
And the great people of this site support our troops: We support them and their families as they deploy, we support their families and friends when they are killed, we support them when they are injured, we do all we can (I hope) to make sure that those who have been deployed and/or who are injured get all the support they need.
What we do not do, I hope, is blame the disgusting and inexcusable behavior of one Marine on all his fellows -- or use that behavior to castigate those who have never behaved that way (and never would) or as an excuse to level false and despiscable charges against so many members of our military who obey orders, do all they can with all the humanity they have, and serve our country proudly.