LAT: Insurgents Rig Dogs With Bombs for Remote Detonation

[stopbush]

Servants -- and Weapons -- of War
# U.S. forces rely on dogs to detect bombs in Iraq. Insurgents rig them with explosives.

By Borzou Daragahi, Times Staff Writer

BAGHDAD — These are the dogs of war.

At a checkpoint leading to the U.S.-protected Green Zone, Gordy stands sentry. The affable Belgian Malinois has a nose finely tuned to detect the nitrates, plastic explosives, gunpowder and detonation cords that suicide bombers use to blow up people.


On a barren stretch of road in northern Iraq, a dog rigged with explosives approaches a group of Iraqi police officers. Detonated by remote control, the bomb tears the dog apart but doesn't harm the cops.

In a war where the line between civilian and soldier is blurred, even man's best friend has been caught up in the combat. U.S. forces hail their trained dogs as heroes, but to insurgents, canines provide the means for a more sinister goal.

Iraqi police cite the recent use of dogs rigged with explosive devices in Latifiya, just south of Baghdad, in Baqubah in central Iraq and in and around the northern city of Kirkuk.

Some Iraqis are horrified by the ethics of dragging the animal world into a human conflict.

More here:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-dogs10aug10,0,2727461.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Jacobin]

1. Well, they don't have fucking jets, so what do you expect?

[Spinzonner]

2. Iraqi branch of PETA

People for the Explosive Treatment of Animals

(Pre-apologies to all the pro-PETAs that are offended by this :sarcasm:)

[xchrom]

3. war is crude and brutal.

it reduces everyone to a predator.
and worse.

where are the weapons of mass destruction?