Iraqi forces ate live frogs & rabbits to show courage

[kskiska]

It was only a brief item in our paper — small enough to perhaps be easily overlooked — although it got more extensive play in the Eastern press.

(snip)

If so, the events at the security-transfer ceremony were not terribly encouraging.

In a Najaf soccer stadium, troops from the Iraqi army, the police and other emergency units paraded for an hour before a reviewing stand filled with U.S. and Iraqi dignitaries.

Then, in what seems to have been the high point of the affair, the members of a commando unit gave a dramatic demonstration of their courage.

According to published accounts, each commando plucked a frog from his pocket, bit off its head and flung aside the twitching lower parts. Then their leader cut open a rabbit and passed it to the others to chew on its still-beating heart.

Bear in mind, these are U.S.-trained forces — elite members of the Iraqi military upon which the future of that country, if it has one, is said to depend.

more…
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/16401172.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

[aquart]

1. We trained them to be cruel to animals? How nice.

No wonder Iraqis are sweeping up corpses everywhere.

[Kagemusha]

2. Where do you think this is the result of Western influence?...

I'd like to know, because on the face of it, I just don't believe it.

[MidwestTransplant]

16. You ever hear of Bill Frist ;)

[jobycom]

3. I've seen women in America do that just to get Bon Jovi tickets.

Very impressive troops, eh?

[Robbien]

4. Sorry but this sounds likes propaganda

Make the people seem backwards and uncouth so that one does not have sympathy for them.

Iraqis have a very old civilization and are very highly educated.

[NoodleyAppendage]

5. Sorry, but the story is true. Old DU link with pictures here.

The story is true and sickening...only click the link below if you have the stomach.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2956213

[leftchick]

7. I came across the rabbit eating photo on Yahoo

and just about puked. :(

[valerief]

8. I heard Air America (Rachel?) discuss it a while back. Hey, it's

kinder than our veal industry.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. This was posted a week or two ago.

Several people were outraged because they figured this had something to do with Iraqi/Islamic culture.

So it appears to be working.

[JuniperLea]

19. What seems backward and uncouth to us may be something entirely different to others

Beheading seems backward and uncouth to us but it's still used in many countries that are a lot older than we are. There are many old and highly educated civilizations that do things that seem backward and uncouth. It would be very difficult for anyone who does not know about the Iraqi civilization inside and out to comment.

[Skidmore]

6. No wonder they hate us.

Anyone consider how religious law for dietary habits apply to this?

[NoodleyAppendage]

10. Again...this isn't a hoax. Link with pictures here.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2956213

Barbarism is alive and well in the Middle East...sucks, but the pictures do not lie.

J

[Skidmore]

12. Didn't dispute whether it was a hoax, just pointing out that

our military could be more culturally astute.

[deaniac21]

9. I prefer a little grilling first.

[Heywood J]

11. I'm curious now.

How exactly, does wasting food and going after completely defenseless prey demonstrate any kind of courage at all? Why would they think that such an act would impress visiting dignitaries? It also begs the question as to whether this was something they came up with on their own or whether they were trained that the dignitaries want to see this (reminiscent of soldiers getting kids to shout "FUCK IRAQ").

Really, this failed miserably. It failed as a show of "courage", it failed as a show of what money has been spent to achieve, it failed as a show of dignity, and it failed the test of patience. Stop horsing around and do your fucking jobs.

(BTW - the link is registration required)

[NoodleyAppendage]

13. I guess you could argue that the act is a "courage against conscience."

For those with a conscience and/or healthy respect for life, eating a live animal and inflicting pain could be considered a difficult act to perform...thus a measure of "courage." This "courage," however, is devoid of the morality that the West typically associates with the term.

J

[Heywood J]

20. Well, it's like "Whoop-dee-shit"...

Frog: 2". Rabbit: 6-12". Person: 60-72".
I'm on pins and needles waiting for the results of that showdown...

If these "commandos" were serious about proving their machismo and courage, they could start with putting themselves to work hunting down the culprits of any given day's bombings of civilians. Since they're into the biting and eating, have each one of them personally best and capture a well-armed, well-muscled insurgent of similar size, then bite the head off or the throat out. As a show of community responsibility, each commando could then properly prepare and package his resulting kill for delivery to impoverished and hungry Iraqis, instead of throwing the leftovers on the ground. Why waste so many kilos of ready and available meat when thousands locally are going hungry?

At least then, they would be demonstrating courage by taking on a foe of similar size and ability, and a sense of respectability by providing for the needy. They'd also be doing what they're paid for - getting insurgents off the streets and maintaining order. None of this frog-biting, rabbit-gnawing, time-wasting horseshit. Why spend billions of dollars and years training these people, only to have them sit around for hours marching and throwing perfectly good meat away. Let's see how many of them still have "bravery and courage" when it comes to Modestly Proposing the enemy.









(Sarcasm, but only mildly so)

[WorseBeforeBetter]

14. Does that fall under "halal"?

I can't look at the pics again - they make me sick to my stomach.

[noonwitch]

15. Yeah, well I've seen drunken frat boys swallow live goldfish

And I've seen sober christians at Young Life do the same thing.

[DaveJ]

17. It seems harmless, except for the rabbit of course.

Nothing beyond the kind of thing Ozzie Osbourne was into. Maybe it creates some kind of exciting allure for recruits? Anyway, they seem ready... Let's leave now and let them have at it!

[question everything]

21. This is why they had to quickly bury Saddam Hussein

otherwise, he, too, would have been consumed.