The Dogs of War

While the media continues to press for American self-flagellation over supposed flushing of Qur’ans in Gitmo (which by the way has no basis in fact), our enemies in Iraq continue to act in the most depraved manner. We already know insurgent snipers intentionally target doctors and journalists. Their training materials explicitly state this. Their selection of suicide bombers is disgusting as well. Not satisfied with blackmailing innocents to execute suicide attacks or using young adults with Down’s syndrome as unsuspecting walking bombs [a crime so foul there is no Hell with an appropriate punishment], al Qaeda has ventured to the animal kingdom for new martyrs in the cause of jihad.

Insurgents in Iraq attached explosives to a dog and tried to blow up a military convoy near the northern oil centre of Kirkuk.

The canine bomb went off but the only casualty was the unfortunate animal, said police. The militants wrapped an explosive belt around the dog and detonated it as the convoy passed through Dakuk, 25 miles south of Kirkuk, said the town’s police chief, Col Mohammed Barzaji.

“The dog was torn apart by the explosion which caused neither injury among the soldiers nor any damage.”

Col Barzaji said the bomb had been detonated outside a Shia mosque. “Eight suspects have been detained.”

This was not the first time that animals have been used in insurgent attacks. In 2003, donkey carts were used to conceal makeshift multiple rocket launchers in a flurry of attacks in Baghdad. Animal carcasses and human corpses have been used to conceal explosives.

This is a relatively new tactic for the insurgency. Previously they have employed IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), VBIEDS (Vehicle Borne IEDs), DSBIED (Down’s Syndrome Borne IEDs) and DBIEDs (Donkey Borne IEDs – aka Shock and Heehaw), but this the first case of CBIEDs (Canine Borne IEDS) reported. While the media reports there is a glut of volunteers wiling to immolate themselves, the reliance on blackmail, the mentally handicapped and four legged creatures as martyrs shows there may be a serious problem with the devotion to the cause amongst the recruits.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), who has objected to the use of animals by the American military for sniffing out explosives and serving as chemical warning systems, has no comment on the insurgency’s use of CBIEDs or DBIEDs. Is their silence to be considered approval? Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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