US Soldiers save US mainland from dangerous tiger

[Pinto]

Feline Death link (http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1419194,00.html)

Bagdad - An American soldier shot and killed a rare Bengal tiger in Baghdad zoo during an apparently drunken party, the head of the zoo said on Saturday.

"The soldiers arrived in the evening with food and beer, accompanied by a group of Iraqi police officers," Adel Salman Musa said of the incident on Thursday night.

"One of the soldiers, who the Iraqi police said had drunk a lot, went into the cage against the advice of his colleagues and tried to feed the animal, who severely hurt his arm," he explained to AFP.

The tiger tore off one of the soldier's fingers and mauled his arm. One of the other soldiers immediately fired at the animal and killed it, he said.

The Bengal tiger is an endangered species which is protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

There are only 3_000-4_500 of these creatures left in the wild.

Salman Musa said US soldiers often held parties in the zoo in the evenings. "We have no way of stopping them," he said.

US Sergeant Mark Ingham confirmed to AFP that an American soldier had killed the tiger on Thursday and said the incident was being investigated.

President Bush said, "My advisers have informed me that these "tigers", have been known to attacks westerners in the past". "That such a weapon was found in the very center of Bagdad goes some way to confirming our suspicions that Saddam was an immediate risk to world freedom"

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has said in a statement to the commons that this tiger was a mere 45 minutes (via Concord) away from London. "Had this biological weapon of terror been introduced into the underground system during rush-hour, there could have been several deaths, and milliions would at least have been inconvenienced".

[Desertrat]

Well, I understand the guy shooting the tiger in order to save his buddy.

Sorta wish he hadn't.

Never underestimate the power of a lowly grunt to really screw up the goodwill efforts of a lot of high muckey-mucks.

'Rat

[mactastic]

What I don't understand is why the hell that guy went in there. Talk about stupid.

[Pinto]

Not officer material, then.

[Sayhey]

Originally posted by mactastic
What I don't understand is why the hell that guy went in there. Talk about stupid.

You have young men with guns and to it you add a "little" alcohol, what kind of outcome can we expect? - I think most Darwin award recipients come from that combination.

[pseudobrit]

I smell courts martial in their future.

[mactastic]

There better be. Condoning this kind of behavior is not ok. If they don't punish these guys, and others who do stupid things, it affects our relationship with Iraqis. Which we're not doing that great of a job at anyway.

[SPG]

How many immediately recognized this as a metaphor for the whole Iraq excursion?

[pseudobrit]

That's a good one; he was just trying to free it and feed it, afterall.

[mactastic]

Originally posted by SPG
How many immediately recognized this as a metaphor for the whole Iraq excursion?

You mean the tiger had WMD in there? Bad Kitty!:D

[tazo]

I am glad that the soldier did what was right which was protect himself and his peers. I am glad Mr. Bush & Mr. Blair were wise enough to understand the seriousness and potential danger of this animal.

Although I wouldnt go as far as to call it
a "...biological weapon of terror..."

;)

[mactastic]

Originally posted by tazo
I am glad that the soldier did what was right which was protect himself and his peers...

What about the one who got drunk and went into the cage of an endangered tiger?

[tazo]

Originally posted by mactastic
What about the one who got drunk and went into the cage of an endangered tiger?
I think the guy was a dumbass, then again people who drink do all sorts of crazy things.

[mactastic]

Originally posted by tazo
I think the guy was a dumbass, then again people who drink do all sorts of crazy things.

Would you punish him?

[tazo]

Originally posted by mactastic
Would you punish him?

for going into the cage? Yes. I would say that he endangered the lives of his peers, which as far as I know is a crime in the army....

[Pinto]

It will be interesting to see what the official reaction to these soldiers will be, compared to the soldiers who have been murdering unarmed Iraqi civilians at road blocks etc.

[tazo]

many of these "unarmed" civilians are carrying weapons, they also shouldnt be hiding behind **** and jumping out, the soldiers have a right to protect themselves and when you have strange "unarmed" civilians there is a high risk of danger.....

[ibjoshua]

They are allowed to get drunk and carry firearms?

who're the bigger dumbasses, these guys or their commanding officers that let them out to 'play'??

i_b_joshua

[Pinto]

Originally posted by tazo
many of these "unarmed" civilians are carrying weapons, they also shouldnt be hiding behind **** and jumping out, the soldiers have a right to protect themselves and when you have strange "unarmed" civilians there is a high risk of danger.....

Last time I checked "unarmed" meant without weapons.

Remember that family who were slaughtered just for driving down the wrong street at the wrong time. All murdered by trigger-happy and nervous US soldiers. Do they give US Army guys amphetamine like they do the Air Force boys?

Just another case which according to the Army is "under investigation".

[Desertrat]

Pinto, your rather casual use of the word "murder" implies that the soldiers are wilfully shooting people whom they know to be unarmed. Do you really believe that?

I can accept "overly nervous" or "inadequately commanded" or even "terminal dumb-butt", but I really doubt that it's actual murder as the term is defined in law.

On the tiger deal, somebody in that chain of command is gonna burn for letting it happen. Where'd they get that much beer, anyway? Seems to me you gotta get toward the "Bullet Proof and Invisible" stage to go messin' with real, live tigers.

'Rat

[pseudobrit]

I've said it before and it bears repeating:

Infantry at this stage are the wrong tool for the job. **** like this (and the checkpoint killings) will continue to happen. It's not the troops' fault; their job is to keep themselves alive.

It's the fault of the command that has used them on the cheap when they should have been pulled out months ago.

[Desertrat]

Soldiers ain't cops. Trouble is that some of the folks coming to check points are specifically coming there to kill whoever's manning the check point. Doesn't matter if it's a U.S. guy or a Brit/whomever ally or an Iraqi cop.

Bush, et al, are suffering from the same lack of understanding of war as are the detractors.

No war is over until a 19-year-old Grunt can sit on his helmet and eat his MREs without worrying about his six.

'Rat

[Taft]

Originally posted by Pinto
Feline Death link (http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1419194,00.html)

President Bush said, "My advisers have informed me that these "tigers", have been known to attacks westerners in the past". "That such a weapon was found in the very center of Bagdad goes some way to confirming our suspicions that Saddam was an immediate risk to world freedom"

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has said in a statement to the commons that this tiger was a mere 45 minutes (via Concord) away from London. "Had this biological weapon of terror been introduced into the underground system during rush-hour, there could have been several deaths, and milliions would at least have been inconvenienced".

This is a joke, right?? The part about Bush and Blairs comments I mean.

How could you possibly refer to a tiger as a weapon? There are animals that dangerous allowed to roam the wild in the US. If a soldier went into a tiger cage to feed the animal, he pretty much deserved what was coming to him. Its a freakin' tiger!! And to think that they believe a terrorist could get a tiger onto a plane, into the US, and released into a populated area undetected...THAT'S funny.

Its got to be a joke...

Taft

[Pinto]

Originally posted by Desertrat
Pinto, your rather casual use of the word "murder" implies that the soldiers are wilfully shooting people whom they know to be unarmed. Do you really believe that?

I can accept "overly nervous" or "inadequately commanded" or even "terminal dumb-butt", but I really doubt that it's actual murder as the term is defined in law.
'Rat

You're right, murder is the wrong word. Manslaughter would be a much closer to the mark.

My apologies.

[Taft]

Originally posted by tazo
I am glad that the soldier did what was right which was protect himself and his peers. I am glad Mr. Bush & Mr. Blair were wise enough to understand the seriousness and potential danger of this animal.

Although I wouldnt go as far as to call it
a "...biological weapon of terror..."

;)

Oh. My. God.

Please tell me you're kidding.

The soldier who shot the tiger was doing the right thing...but only by first doing a very wrong thing by letting his fellow soldier enter the cage in the first place. Any soldier who knowingly let his peer enter that cage without protest deserves reprimand. The soldier who entered the cage deserves a court marshal.

And you must be joking about Bush's or Blair's comments. "Mr. Bush & Mr. Blair were wise enough to understand the seriousness and potential danger of this animal"????? I could go back home to Iron Mountain, MI, go into the woods with a heavy tranquilizer gun, sedate a black bear and then turn him loose in downtown Chicago if I was so inclined.

ANIMALS ARE INHERENTLY DANGEROUS. They don't understand logic. They won't reason with you. Many are more powerful than a human. Should we eliminate them all? Or only those in the hands of terrorists like the Iraqi government?

There could be arguments made for destroying an animal if there was evidence of behavioral problems resulting from abuse, etc. But there is no justification for this incident.

I don't blame the army, or the Bush administration. But these guys deserve to be punished, and this type of behavior should be posted widely as being against army policy and grounds for court marshal.

Taft

[Pinto]

Originally posted by Taft
This is a joke, right?? The part about Bush and Blairs comments I mean...


...Its got to be a joke...

Taft

It is a joke.

SPG got it straight away:

How many immediately recognized this as a metaphor for the whole Iraq excursion?

He was talking about the lead report. My joke was just poking fun, y'know "Sexing up" the danger the Tiger represented.

[zimv20]

UBL refers to the US as a "paper tiger." perhaps the soldiers thought they'd be sending a message. ;-)

i agree that an investigation possibly followed by court martial trials would not be asking too much.

[Taft]

Originally posted by Pinto
It is a joke.

SPG got it straight away:



He was talking about the lead report. My joke was just poking fun, y'know "Sexing up" the danger the Tiger represented.

Thank God. I'd thought the whole world had gone crazy for a moment.

Guess my satire-o-meter is on the fritz today. Damn the internet's lack of inflection!

Taft

[tazo]

Originally posted by Taft
ANIMALS ARE INHERENTLY DANGEROUS. They don't understand logic. They won't reason with you. Many are more powerful than a human. Should we eliminate them all?

Wouldn't that make them terrorists? If so then i agree completely.

[ibjoshua]

<sooooooo off topic>

Hey zimv20 I dig the readymade avatar!

i_b_joshua

</sooooooo off topic>

[zimv20]

Originally posted by i_b_joshua
<sooooooo off topic>

Hey zimv20 I dig the readymade avatar!

i_b_joshua

</sooooooo off topic>

thanks! you're the first one to correctly identify it.