A Bagdad Puppy Rescue for a Soldier's Dog

At least, I'm hoping it will happen.

Army blocks soldier from bringing puppy back

WASHINGTON - More than 10,000 people have signed an online petition urging the Army to let an Iraqi puppy come home with a Minnesota soldier, who fears that "Ratchet" could be killed if left behind.

"I just want my puppy home," Sgt. Gwen Beberg of Minneapolis wrote to her mother in an e-mail Sunday from Iraq, soon after she was separated from the dog following a transfer. "I miss my dog horribly." Beberg, 28, is scheduled to return to the U.S. next month.

Ratchet's defenders are ratcheting up their efforts to save him. On Monday, the program coordinator for Operation Baghdad Pups, which is run by Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International, left for a trip to the Middle East to try to get the puppy to the U.S. [...]

She rescued the dog as a puppy, from a burning pile of trash. Adopted dogs left behind in Iraq face death on the streets, as many Iraqis view dogs (and cats) as nuisances and disease carriers.

Sgt. Beberg sent her mom an email that confirmed the dog was still alive and ok. Hopefully it will remain so until it can be rescued.



The black face with the white on the nose, reminds me our our dog, Digby. I'm hoping they can bring Ratchet home safely for Sgt. Beberg.


Related Links:

The Dogs of War... [need good homes]

John McCain's sons

Here is an email I got recently:

John McCain's Sons

Talk about putting your most valuable where your mouth is! Apparently this was not 'newsworthy' enough for the media to comment about. Can either of the other presidential candidates truthfully come close to this? ... Just a question for each of us to seek an answer, and not a statement.

You see...character is what's shown when the public is not looking. There were no cameras or press invited to what you are about to read about, and the story comes from one person in New Hampshire.

One evening last July, Senator John McCain of Arizona arrived at the New Hampshire home of Erin Flanagan for sandwiches, chocolate-chip cookies and a heartfelt talk about Iraq. They had met at a presidential debate, when she asked the candidates what they would do to bring home American soldiers - - soldiers like her brother, who had been killed in action a few months earlier.

Mr. McCain did not bring cameras or press. Instead, he brought his youngest son, James McCain, 19, then a private first class in the Marine Corps about to leave for Iraq. Father and son sat down to hear more about Ms. Flanagan's brother Michael Cleary, a 24-year-old Army First Lieutenant killed by an ambush ... a roadside bomb.

No one mentioned the obvious: In just days, Jimmy McCain could face similar perils. 'I can't imagine what it must have been like for them as they were coming to meet with a family that ......' Ms. Flanagan recalled, choking up. 'We lost a dear one,' she finished.

Mr. McCain, now the presumptive Republican nominee, has staked his candidacy on the promise that American troops can bring stability to Iraq. What he almost never says is that one of them is his own son, who spent seven months patrolling Anbar Province and learned of his father's New Hampshire victory in January while he was digging a stuck military vehicle out of the mud.

Two of Jimmy's three older brothers went into the military Doug McCain, 48, was a Navy pilot. Jack McCain, 21, is to graduate from the Naval Academy next year, raising the chances that his father, if elected, could become the first president since Dwight D. Eisenhower with a son at war.

I chose to share this with those who I believe will pass it on, to others who will pass it on. We hear so much inflated trash out there. How about a simple act of kindness ... and dedication to others placed above oneself?

Has anybody heard if Barack Hussein Obama has served in The American Armed Services?

This is for all you Barack voters.
From Barack's book, Audacity of Hope:
'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.''
HE DID NOT SAY STAND WITH AMERICANS!!!!!

[END]

So how true is this? When I checked it out on Snopes, they said the version they reported on is true:

Snopes: My Three Sons.

The version I got is nearly identical to theirs, but has been re-written some, and amended. Most of the context is the same but Snopes version does not include the Obama quote at the end. That particular quote is addressed in another Snopes report, regarding multiple quotes from Obama's book:

Snopes: In His Own Words

It seems it's not an actual Obama quote, because he didn't mention Muslims specifically. It is based on something he said regarding legal immigrants generally, in the context of a Japanese internment camp scenario. You can follow the link for the details about this, and the truth about other Obama quotes as well.

And since we're "Snoping" McCain's family, see what they have to say bout his wife:

Snopes: Cindy McCain

It's very nice, and includes how the McCain's got their adopted daughter. Cindy would make an excellent First Lady.
     

Good news for Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum

Case dropped against Haditha defendant Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum

Charges Dropped Against Another Haditha Marine

An indictment against John Murtha

Now lets see if we can redeploy John Murtha
     

The Dogs of War...

... Need good homes!

From Adam Silverman at USA TODAY:
Rescued from war: Tales of puppy love

CAMBRIDGE, Vt. — Cinnamon is a mixed-breed dog whose gaze, those who love her say, redefines the term puppy-dog eyes.

Navy officer Mark Feffer of Annapolis, Md., fell in love with Cinnamon during his first few days in Afghanistan. When Feffer's tour ended, he couldn't bear to leave Cinnamon behind.

The mission to bring the animal stateside — despite military regulations against doing so — almost ended when the puppy went missing, but after a frantic 44-day search across Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan, the dog arrived safely in the USA.

Two years after the lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve struggled to bring the red-furred pooch home, a program called Operation Baghdad Pups is easing the process for other servicemembers who want to bring stray dogs home when they leave Iraq or Afghanistan.

Launched in November, Operation Baghdad Pups, which operates under the umbrella of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) International, has more than 30 dogs and several cats it is working to bring to the USA, program manager Terri Crisp says. The program fields two or three inquiries daily. [...]

I know that one could argue, "why bother to bring dogs and cats home from Iraq, when there are already plenty here stateside that need adoption?" But read the whole article. Read the story of "Cinnamon".


Our soldiers bond with the dogs they adopt while over there. They often want to bring them home, instead of abandoning them to starvation or something worse. If you have ever bonded with a dog, you will understand.

There is now an organization to help soldiers bring home their dogs:

www.baghdadpups.com
"No Buddy gets left behind"
If you care to make a donation, it's a way to help both our soldiers and stray dogs.

Remembering Our Heros...

Cox and Forkum have a brief History of Memorial Day.

Maynard at the Tammy Bruce Blog comments on the holiday:

Memorial Day is not a "Happy" Holiday

     

Fred Thompson: Run Fred Run!

I've been wanting to post about Fred for a while now. Pat at Born Again Redneck Yogi has been doing many great posts about Fred.

The latest post today was from Pat's Fred Roundup, which was excellent. Here is a portion of Fred's speech he gave recently in Connecticut:

In his speech, Thompson criticized Democrats as he discussed terrorism, Iraq and national security. "Our choice is not whether or not we're going to fight. Our choice is where we're going to fight," Thompson said. "And the only debate going on right now with regard to this most important issue facing our country on the Democratic side of the aisle is the date of our surrender."

He added, "My friends, I don't think that the American people are going to turn the keys of this country over to a party that invests their political capital in defeat."

But Thompson also stressed his own party returning to their key issues and warned his fellow Republicans to "get nervous if they go the wrong way."

"Someone once said that a cat won't sit on a hot stove twice, but he won't sit on a cold stove ever," Thompson said. "Here we had an election that was traumatic for some people, and the media blamed it on Iraq. I think it had more to do with pork barrel spending and corruption than it did Iraq." [...]

(bold emphasis mine) In that speech he also criticized "Open Border" immigration policies. Then regarding Memorial Day... well follow the links, it's worth it. Pat's posted a good video there by Fred, called "The Soldier".