HONOLULU (AP) – The Marine Corps said Wednesday it was expelling one Marine and disciplining another for their roles in a video showing a Marine throwing a puppy off a cliff while on patrol in Iraq. The 17-second video posted on YouTube drew sharp condemnation from animal rights groups when it came to light in March. The clip shows two Marines joking before one hurls the puppy into a rocky gully. A yelping sound is heard as it flips through the air. “That’s mean. That’s mean, Motari,” an off-camera Marine is heard telling the Marine who tossed the black and white dog. The off-camera Marine snickered slightly afterward.
Lance Cpl. David Motari, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment at Kaneohe Bay, is “being processed for separation” from the Marine Corps, the Marine Corps said in a news release. He also received unspecified “non-judicial punishment.” The Marine Corps didn’t say what role Motari played in the clip. The video was viewed tens of thousands of times before YouTube took it down because of a violation of the site’s terms of use. The actions seen in the Internet video are contrary to the high standards we expect of every Marine and will not be tolerated,” Marine Corps Base Hawaii said in a news release. “The vast majority of Marines conduct their duties with honor and compassion that makes American people proud.” The second Marine, Sgt. Crismarvin Banez Encarnacion, also received unspecified “non-judicial” punishment.
Call me a bleeding heart if you will, but I’m glad to see the Corps finally dealt with this idiot.
#61, Satan,
He’s a nut-job with military training and a mental instability. I’m sure the VA isn’t providing him much in the way of therapy. This nut-job is now free to kill pets, and maybe people, here in the US for shits and giggles. You’re so worried about human life? Worry about this jackass getting pissed off because someone stole his parking spot and then flipping out and assaulting, or even killing … wait for it…. Wait for it…..
And that is exactly my point. Go back to the beginning of this thread and see how many posts want some harm and or torture applied to this HUMAN. Yes, WE, as a country sent him to Iraq, to be trained and used as an emotionless killer. And we don’t care how he does it as long as he does his job.
If you think this is an anomaly, you are mistaken. I would have expected the Pentagon to ban video and still cameras by now so such episodes like this, Abu Graib wouldn’t come to light. As many as ¼ of all returning soldiers are emotionally effected by their tour. We can expect this behavior to happen quite often. Just because a camera didn’t catch it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. When a camera catches it, then we react.
These men need help while in Iraq as well as when they return. The quality of that care is way more important than one little puppy. The puppy is just an indicator that help is needed before a human becomes an indicator.
Gawd:
“And that is exactly my point. Go back to the beginning of this thread and see how many posts want some harm and or torture applied to this HUMAN.”
Maybe so, but not my posts.
“Yes, WE, as a country sent him to Iraq, to be trained and used as an emotionless killer. And we don’t care how he does it as long as he does his job.”
I didn’t send this guy to Iraq. My government did. Also, I didn’t vote for Bush, so I can’t even be blamed for this by association. However, seeing as I am helping to foot the bill for all this with my real job, I do care how he does his job. Maybe you are the type who believes that the end justifies the means no matter what, but I am not that type.
“If you think this is an anomaly, you are mistaken.”
What?
“ I would have expected the Pentagon to ban video and still cameras by now so such episodes like this, Abu Graib wouldn’t come to light.”
Ha! These things need to come to light. It’s a good thing when atrocities are exposed. It forces people who don’t have a moral compass to straighten up.
“As many as ¼ of all returning soldiers are emotionally effected by their tour.”
I would have guessed more than ¼. Regardless, no matter how emotionally affected a person is, it doesn’t excuse bad behavior.
“We can expect this behavior to happen quite often.”
No shit.
“Just because a camera didn’t catch it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”
No shit, again.
“ When a camera catches it, then we react.”
Because these are the incidents we are made aware of. I generally don’t react to crimes that I’m not aware of…. But let me try….. “Somewhere, someone is committing an unspecified crime….” Hmmm… I’m trying, but it’s not working. Sorry.
“These men need help while in Iraq as well as when they return.”
I do agree that these people need help. Although, I would add that the help should start before they even set foot in Iraq.
“The quality of that care is way more important than one little puppy. The puppy is just an indicator that help is needed before a human becomes an indicator.”
This is where your logic starts to really deteriorate. You are comparing apples and oranges. There is no logical connection between the importance of the help these people need and the life of a puppy. Yes, the puppy tossing and like incidents are indicators that there is a problem. However, that is where the connection ends.
Just because someone is appalled by an individual incident doesn’t mean that the person doesn’t understand the bigger picture. It just means that the particular post that person made is expressing a single point. That person likely has a more complex grasp of the situation, but didn’t post a thesis deconstructing every aspect of that understanding.
It’s as if you are taking two absolute extremes, that aren’t even on the same line, and comparing them so you can tell everyone who thinks it’s wrong to toss a puppy off a cliff that they are all horrible people who hold puppy life miles over human life. I doubt that any of the responses that suggested harming the soldier were truly serious. However, whether you like it or not, this soldier shouldn’t get a pass just because he’s “emotionally affected.” I’m not saying he should be executed, but he should definitely be punished, and not just a little slap on the wrist (publicly) and then a pat on the back (privately).
If you read the guy’s quotes and what he posted on his little social networking page (linked in one of the above posts) you will see that this guy really is just an asshole with entitlement issues. He thinks he’s being a little rebel by finding his own way. Somehow, I doubt this guy became the asshole that he is in Iraq. I’m sure he had a solid foundation of being an asshole before he ever joined the military. Iraq probably just exacerbated his assholeness.
#63, Satan,
I think we are on the same page up until:
… The puppy is just an indicator that help is needed before a human becomes an indicator.”
Me
your response is:
You are comparing apples and oranges. There is no logical connection between the importance of the help these people need and the life of a puppy. Yes, the puppy tossing and like incidents are indicators that there is a problem.
You
If the puppy incident is an indicator, then it is time to get the man some help.
Just because someone is appalled by an individual incident doesn’t mean that the person doesn’t understand the bigger picture.
You
By the posts on this thread I disagree. It seems to me that most posts are fixated on the puppy instead of the bigger picture. If we weren’t in Iraq then this incident would not have happened. For some reason though many think destroying the life of a man is worth less than the life of a dog.
That person likely has a more complex grasp of the situation, but didn’t post a thesis deconstructing every aspect of that understanding.
You
It is dangerous to assume what people might be thinking when they write something. For an extreme example, if I write “I’m going to kill the President” I don’t expect the Secret Service to wonder if I am serious, have motive, or means before they start looking me up. We usually take what is said or written at face value without attaching supposed qualifications.
My whole point is NOT that this is a good thing. It isn’t. My point is that other posters think this MAN should suffer death and or be tortured instead of being medically treated for any emotional or mental problems he has.
I checked out the personal web bio and lets look at the three comments left.
…
“burn in hell shit”
… “I strongly advise you to catch a bullet as soon as possible, preferably a glancing shot to the head leaving you with a career licking windows” …
… “Go kill yourself. Yeah, there’s a nice piece of justice right there asshole”
Shall we look over some of the previous comments posted here?
#1 I’d simply drop this asshole off in the dead of night in Sadr City for a real life lesson in cruelty.
#5, I hope that a few of you honorably discharged Marines out there have the opportunity to meet this guy and re-explain, with extreme prejudice, …
#9, This guy should go right to f@#%$& jail, right f@!$%^ now.
#12, put an American flag t-shirt on him and dump him off in Sadr City. They’ll have his beheading on YouTube before sundown.
#24, My hope is the media writes about this every year for the next 5 years including his current address and that of his employer.
OK, I agree the guy is an asshole. I still say we need to put it all into perspective though. He was imbued with a sense of machismo, “be a man” attitude right from his first day in boot camp. That is evident in his posturing and comments.
Gawd:
I do agree that the puppy tossing incident is an indicator that this guy has some serious problems and needs help. I even agree that it is more important that this guy receives this help than it is to be angry over the puppy. However, the point I was trying to express is that there is a point where this branches off into two issues. 1) yes, the soldier needs help. Agreed. 2) Tossing a puppy off a cliff to its death just for entertainment is very wrong, regardless of where it happens or who did it. What I’m saying is that you really can’t compare these two aspects by the same criteria. Now, if we were to compare say tossing a puppy off a cliff to its death for shits and giggles and tossing a person off a cliff to his death for shits and giggles, yeah, that can be compared similarly. (and just to make myself clear, I would be more appalled by the person being tossed off a cliff.)
I think why the reactions to this particular incident tend to be so harsh is that a person has to really be an asshole to do something like this. In our society, the same society this guy grew up in, a puppy is the epitome of all that is purely innocent and even loyal. To take that symbol and just toss it off a cliff to its death is really cold. It’s a challenge to respect this guy’s life when he clearly has no respect for life or the innocent. I’d hate to see what he does to people over there when his dipshit buddies aren’t filming him.
I get that this guy is in the middle of a war zone. I don’t expect him to react perfectly in all situations. I even expect that there will be times when the ambiguity of a potential threat may cause a soldier to make bad decisions. But how much clearer can a situation be? Puppy=no threat. I even get the brainwashing, as you say, “machismo, be a man” crap. I don’t exactly agree with that attitude, but I understand it’s there and it’s drilled into these guys. But my take on that is what a tool this guy really is. If he equates tossing a puppy off a cliff with being a man, then he really does have problems.
As far as the posts go: Yeah, some of them are harsh. I can understand why people are so pissed off by this guy, but I also don’t think it’s appropriate to post threatening responses either. However, as far as the posters on this blog go, I still have a hard time believing that anyone here is truly serious. The impression I’ve always gotten from the posters on this blog is that they are very opinionated, enjoy heated banter, and like to insult each other, but are generally harmless. Maybe the people who responded to the soldier’s page are serious, but even then, they are probably just pissed off and aren’t truly serious, either.
But at the end of the day this guy really is an asshole and should be treated as such. (yes, he needs loads and loads of therapy, too, at least before they can release him into the general population. He needs this help for the safety of others. I personally don’t care if he’s depressed, angry, impotent, whatever. As far as I’m concerned – big tough shit. Join the club. Life sucks. He needs to get over it, and stop being an asshole. I can’t get away with being an asshole, and neither should he. He’s not special.) He deserves to be punished. Generally, in our society, when people get caught doing something wrong the intention is to hold those people responsible for their actions. This guy should not get a pass. The military should punish him and then he should also be held responsible and be punished according to American law. (People get fined, arrested, etc. for abusing animals here. He should get the same.) I also think he deserves to log onto his little social networking page and read how much people think he’s an asshole. I don’t think that the threatening things people have posted should actually be executed, but he should have to read them.
I’m not saying this to be abusive or mean. I’m saying this because people like this guy need to be kept in check. He needs the therapy, but he also needs to know that people won’t tolerate his crap. Unfortunately, not everyone has the mental capacity to make decisions based on what is right and wrong, they need a little negative reinforcement. If they know something isn’t going to fly, maybe they’ll think twice before they do it.
#65, Satan,
I think we agree 99 44/100 %. Instead of nit picking over that little bit of difference we would be better off sharing some brews and arguing if the waitresses boobs were natural or fake.
8)
#66
You’re probably 99.86% right, but the nitpicking is so much fun!! Besides, the waitress’s boobs are fake, so we’d have to find something else to argue about… 🙂
All you posters whining about people dying in Iraq, here is the difference. That puppy wasn’t a threat to anyone. He wasn’t holding a rocket launcher, planting an IED, or firing an AK. He just happened to be unlucky enough to cross paths with this idiot. What the fuck would it have hurt to just leave the puppy? Or if you just absolutely had to put it out of it’s misery, just shoot it? No, he had to be “creative” and toss it over the cliff. I sure hope he uses that wonderful creativity when having to explain to potential employers why he was kicked out of the military. I bet he will look stunning when he trades in that marine uniform for that stylish McDonald’s regalia. I hope it was worth pissing away your military career too.
i searched google for pissed off marine and got this
my day got slightly fucking better
Hope this scum bag slips on dog shit and breaks his neck.
I see quite a lot of self righteous / hillier than tho comments here.
A few points:
– The dog was sick – dying
– The dogs are usually shot
– The Marine used a different method to put the poor dog out of it’s misery.
– The Marine never intended for the video to be released.
Was is sort of a dick move? I think so as shooting the dog in the head would have been a bit less painful.
However, for those saying the Marine needs to be tortured, ridiculed, imprisoned, etc, etc you to
Get over yourselves. And as someone already mentioned if the animal happened to be something not as cute as a little puppy there wouldn’t even be an issue.
The bottom line is that the Marine did go a bit too far with throwing the sick / dying dog off the cliff to put it out of it’s misery (he should have just shot it via standard procedure).
All things taking into account the Marine doesn’t deserve to loss everything. If your a sick miserable steaming pile you may think so but that’s just the way some people are I suppose.
I also noticed most here posting comments have no clue about what they’re talking about or just reading what they want to hear. For a start, try reading what the Marine in the video posted.
Also note that a Marine is NOT a soldier. A Marine is simply a Marine NOT a soldier.
Marine = Marine
Soldier = Amy