Marine given the boot for puppy toss video

As Agence France-Presse reports, Lance Corp. David Motari, who everyone thought was the guy who'd tossed the puppy, actually was. Motari and another Marine are being disciplined, and a Marine press release says that Motari is being "processed for separation."

Why it took three months to "investigate" whether Motari was responsible for the video (his name was used in it, after all) is not clear. You'd think they could have closed the case in one day and saved the Marine's family a world of terror and harassment. But when it comes to unflattering situations involving personnel, the Armed Forces are not generally known for their speed or transparency.

Now that the facts are all in, we can wonder about what it would take not just to commit such a brutal act but to record it, and then to let the tape get posted online. The Marines like to invoke support-our-troops-type rhetoric to insulate themselves from criticism ("The vast majority of Marines conduct their duties with honor and compassion that makes American people proud"), but what they're really doing is calling Motari an isolated sicko and sweeping the bigger issue under the carpet. 

All you have to do is look around for 10 minutes and you can find a dozen videos of wartime cruelty to animals, so to pretend this is a one-in-a-million situation is disingenuous. Let's be honest: Terrible things happen in a war -- to humans, to animals, to everyone. If more men in uniform had video cameras and posted their wartime footage to YouTube, it might not be so easy to ignore that fact.

Comments

[Alex P. Keaton]

Kill a puppy and the average American cries for blood.

Gun down an innocent Iraqui on video and they'll cheer you on.

Mad world.

[phlapjak]

Alex P. Keaton

Can you provide a link to your propoganda? The supposed "gunning down an innocent Iraqui (sic) where people cheer you on?"

You need to stop believing what your liberal pundits are feeding you and do the research yourself.

Do bad things happen in wars? Yes. Are there some people to go off the deep end while fighting wars? Yes.

But to indict everyone serving your country as killing people wantonly for sport is a bit much, no?
PJ

[Valleytopdog]

Many US police departments would be more than happy to have David Motari as one of their own. This is exactly the kind of solider and policeman the US want. Saying that this is a typical incident is pure insanity. Be careful society as we will probably read about this guy 5 years from now when he becomes a canabil just like Jeffrey Dahmer. Suprised that the Army did not recruit Jeffrey.

[M. Fisher]

For Alex P. Keaton: All you have to do is google US troops killing citizens or animals and you will be taken to plenty of sites where they still allow the videos up. Youtube had many of them on and they clearly show soldiers killing people for no reason, blowing up dogs and laughing, throwing grenades into a flock of sheep with the owner in the herd. This list just goes on and on. Why don't you take your conservative rose-colored glasses off and take a look at the realities of this war.

David Motari clearly threw a live puppy off that cliff and laughed about it. Now, he is paying a very small price for what he did. At least something was done for this one, innocent 6 week old, defenseless puppy.

[Anonymous]

There are countless videos of dogs being shot, tormented, sheep being shot, civilians being shot and harassed, they are all posted on youtube but deleted days later but are still possible to find on the internet... I find it disgusting that some right wing fascist nut calls people who value human life "liberal nuts"... people who value slaughtering civilians and animals are the nuts here...

[JayCeezy]

This guy is not representative of the U.S. Marines, or the typical men and women in the armed forces. A problem was identified, investigated, and consequences meted out. As it should be, this is not acceptable to the Marines, to the U.S., or any reasonable person.

[ShMtl08]

I dont get it....he gets send home for throwing a puppy off a cliff but Micheal Vick goes to jail?!?!?