I was browsing both You Tube and Google video for interesting videos to share with the readers of this site when I stumbled across this one.
It shows a army patrol in Iraq and a doctor accompanying them shoots a dog, which he claimed was coming at him. The commentator in the video disagreed, and he also states that several of the soldiers were disgusted with the incident and one asked:
What’s the doctor doing out here, with a gun!
I personally think this is sad incident and, and can not help but to wonder how much this and other similar incidents reflects on us as a people, and on us as a nation in the eyes of the Iraqi citizens.
The video of the incident is below.
Trigger happy doctor in US army on operations in iraq shoots a dog.
Do you feel the doctor’s actions were justified or not?
I saw this on BBC tv, as a segment in the full 90 minute programe, ironically about the Dog Patrol in Iraq. To me it summed up the pointlessness of the whole Iraq conflict. The Dog came out to see what was going on. The US soldier shot it. Maybe as a Doctor he was less used to front line work & the adrenaline got to him. Whatever the reason the dogs death was pointless & did nothing to show that the US coallition was there to do good. The reaction of the dog owner was interesting – he did not get angry, but you could see that he was distressed, someone had shot his dog, there was nothing he could do – just another futile action. Maybe the Doctor hated Iraq & knew the death of a dog would not cause him any trouble.
Later in the same film there US soldiers went to a market. Built by the US and given free to be used by the locals. It was empty. The traders were there, but selling on the street outside. The subtitles said one thing, the interpreter another. Whatever the reasons the locals were not there selling produce. The film moved onto show scenes of US engineers destroying a Palm Grove. Insurgents had used the trees as cover. With such heavy handed tactics, there may not be much for the Iraqis to sell at the market anyway.