PETA looking for soldiers in video
By Melissa Vogt - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jan 19, 2007 21:37:46 EST
An animal-rights group is offering up to $5,000 for information that helps identify and locate men it believes are U.S. service members who are seen throwing rocks and heard laughing at a crippled dog in a brief video posted on the Internet.
The posting at LiveLeak.com claims the 51-second video footage was found on a CD in Baghdad’s “Green Zone.”
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals condemned the actions on tape in a Friday statement and called for the individuals to be court-martialed, if they are proven to belong to the U.S. military.
The video clip begins with giggles and a dark-haired dog lying next to tire tracks in the dust.
“I got a video camera now,” a voice announces.
About eight seconds later, another voice says, “Stop it, dude. Do you hear that [expletive]?”
While the video focuses mainly on the dog, at one point the camera swings to show what look and sound like U.S. soldiers. One man picks up a rock and tosses it toward the animal.
About 20 seconds in, one voice says, “I’ll bet he’s in a lot of pain.”
The dog variously snaps at the rocks, barks at his tormenters and tries to find a spot out of the rock thrower’s reach. The dog hops away awkwardly, missing at least one leg entirely and another dangles uselessly.
Amid laughter, another voice says at the half-minute mark, “That is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
At nearly the same moment, the earlier voice comments, “He must have been like that a long time.”
The mirth continues, but at 47 seconds the same voice says, “I feel like we should kill him. I really do.”
Another man answers, “You wanna go over and kill it?”
The PETA statement notes that the same people who are cruel to animals “are often repeat offenders who pose a serious threat to humans and other animals.”
“The men in this video are a disgrace to their unit and to their country,” said PETA Foundation staffer William Rivas-Rivas, a former Navy officer and a Persian Gulf veteran. “They are cowards, taking their aggression out on the most defenseless being available to them. The ‘best of the best’ don’t behave like cruel, bullying thugs.”
Anyone with information about the incident in the video can e-mail PETA’s Domestic Animal Abuse department at DAWR&
[email protected] or call (757) 622-7382, extension 8037.
