Justice Goes to the Dogs

Well, what did I tell you? The puppy-tossing Marines seem to be getting more press coverage than the "Heroes" of Haditha.

According to the AP, the Marine Corps is expelling Lance Cpl. David Motari and disciplining Sgt. Crismarvin Banez Encarnacion. Both men have also received unspecified "non-judicial" punishment.

UPDATE:
This story garnered some interesting responses from our neocon friends at FreeRepublic.com. Some were glad to see disciplinary action taken, but many sought to excuse the behavior. One member said, "A cruel thing indeed. But men do cruel things in war zones." Another said, "I say cut them some slack, no puppy is worth a career, these were men willing to do things that 299 Million Americans have not and WILL not do." This was the most "macho" of the bunch. He later went on to say, "I don't give one whit what 'animal lovers' think about it. As far as what they did, IMO the only thing that bugs me the slightest is that they put it on YouTube. Stomp the puppies heads (sic) in for all I care, in truth wild mongrel dogs are vermin."

Some saw the need for at least a slap on the wrist: "While some punishment is merited, it should certainly not end his career. Next, we'll find that shooting a rodent will get you kicked out."

Some kind of got it: "What they did to this puppy is disturbing, but there are many abjectly repulsive acts that soldiers in war are forced to do, and get medals for doing."

Still others just didn't seem to have a clue: "The Marine Corps isn't about being cruel. It's about defending our country and showing the willingness to close and destroy our enemies in a disciplined manner. That's what set Marines apart, it's an 'honor' thing. It's not a 'killing for giggles like little punks' thing." Another chimed in, "The helpless little puppy was not the enemy, and we have no use for people in our armed forces who have that much difficulty differentiating between enemies and non-enemies."

As you might have guessed, not one word about Haditha in the entire thread. It just reinforces my original assertion that in our twisted American worldview, a cute puppy is worth more than 10 or even 10,000 Iraqis.