This is good and all -- but also makes it clear that the US Military etc cares more about a puppy than an Iraqi civilian.......
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2008/10/15/warglance.html WAR DEVELOPMENTS From News Services Wednesday, October 15, 2008 Puppy left in Iraq is alive, military says Baghdad ---- An Iraqi puppy adopted by an American soldier but refused a flight to the United States is alive, the military said Tuesday, giving hope to an animal-rescue group that is trying to take it to the United States. The case has cast a spotlight on Defense Department rules that prohibit soldiers in the U.S. Central Command, which includes Iraq, from adopting pets or transporting them home. Army Sgt. Gwen Beberg, 28, of Minneapolis tried to send Ratchet home with the help of Operation Baghdad Pups earlier this month as she prepared to leave Iraq. But the dog was reportedly confiscated by a U.S. officer before it could reach the Baghdad International Airport, raising concern about the animal's fate. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Cmdr. David Russell said the dog was alive, but could provide no other details. More than 30,000 people have signed an online petition urging the Army to let the puppy go home with Beberg. The coordinator for Operation Baghdad Pups ---- a rescue program run by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International ---- planned to travel to Baghdad today to collect six dogs rescued by U.S. troops, hoping that Ratchet will be one of them. Iraq > An American soldier was killed Tuesday by gunfire in western Baghdad, the U.S. military said, the first U.S. combat death in the capital in two weeks. The soldier's name was not immediately released. Seven U.S. troops have died in Iraq this month, all but two of them in combat. > Five Sunni insurgent organizations have issued statements disavowing attacks on Iraqi Christians in Mosul, a monitoring service reported Tuesday. The attacks, widely blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq, have prompted thousands of Christians to flee the northern city. > Neighboring Turkey reached out to Iraq's top Kurdish leader, urging him to crack down on the Kurdish guerrillas launching cross-border attacks from their Iraqi mountain sanctuaries. The talks in Baghdad were the first direct negotiations in four years between Turkey and Massoud Barzani, president of the three-province semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. Afghanistan > A roadside blast in the east killed three NATO troops. The alliance did not provide their nationalities or the exact location of the blast, but the majority of troops in the east are American. > In the south, a bomb apparently intended for NATO troops exploded against an Afghan minivan in Uruzgan province, killing nine civilians, said Juma Gul Himat, the provincial police chief. > A bomb blast intended for NATO troops killed seven civilians traveling in a bus in Ghazni province on Monday, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday. > The U.S.-led coalition said Tuesday that one of its service members was killed and several others were wounded in the south on Monday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. No other information, including the service members' nationalities or precise location of the attack, was released. > U.S.-led troops killed five insurgents in central Ghazni province on Monday during a raid to disrupt a foreign fighter network, the coalition said Tuesday. Pakistan > Nearly 190,000 people are reported to have fled fighting between Pakistani troops and militants near the border with Afghanistan, the United Nations said Tuesday. > Police released a man of dual American-Pakistani citizenship they had arrested Monday in the volatile border region. Authorities originally described the 20-year-old as a U.S. citizen traveling without the permission foreigners need to enter the region. > A small group of Islamic political parties announced that suicide bombings were not permitted under Islam, a declaration likely to please the government. Washington > President Bush on Tuesday signed legislation allowing $612 billion in defense spending for the 2009 budget year, including a 3.9 percent pay raise for troops. The legislation allows a supplement of nearly $70 billion for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and requires more information on contractors with projects in Iraq. -- Linda *http://freedetainees.org <http://freedetainees.org/> * --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "bangla-vision" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/bangla-vision?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
