(Update: ratchet is ALIVE) Army Blocks Soldier From Taking Puppy From Iraq (100,000 sign petition)

[Omaha Steve]

http://wjz.com/national/puppy.iraq.soldier.2.839727.html

Oct 13, 2008 8:44 pm US/Eastern
Army Blocks Soldier From Taking Puppy From Iraq
WASHINGTON (AP) ― More than 10,000 people have signed an online petition urging the Army to let an Iraqi puppy come home with a Minnesota soldier, who fears that "Ratchet" could be killed if left behind.

"I just want my puppy home," Sgt. Gwen Beberg of Minneapolis wrote to her mother in an e-mail Sunday from Iraq, soon after she was separated from the dog following a transfer. "I miss my dog horribly." Beberg, 28, is scheduled to return to the U.S. next month.

Ratchet's defenders are ratcheting up their efforts to save him. On Monday, the program coordinator for Operation Baghdad Pups, which is run by Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International, left for a trip to the Middle East to try to get the puppy to the U.S. And last week, Beberg's congressman, Democrat Keith Ellison, wrote to the Army urging it to review the case.


In May, Sergeant Gwen Beberg of Minneapolis adopted a puppy that she and another soldier rescued from a burning pile of trash, and named it Ratchet.
CBS


Beberg and another soldier rescued the puppy from a burning pile of trash back in May. Defense Department rules prohibit soldiers in the U.S. Central Command, which includes Iraq, from adopting pets, but has made exceptions. Operation Baghdad Pups says it has gotten 50 dogs and six cats transferred to the U.S. in the last eight months.

"I'm coping reasonably well because I refuse to believe that Ratchet has been hurt," Beberg wrote in the e-mail to her mother, Patricia Beberg. "If I find out that he was killed though -- well, we just won't entertain that possibility."

"They knew about the regulation," Patricia Beberg said, "but excuse me, you're not going to throw the puppy back in the burning pile." She said Monday that her daughter sent another e-mail saying that she confirmed that the dog was still alive and doing OK. Apparently, someone had stashed him in a meat freezer.

FULL update at link.

[The Traveler]

1. Save the puppy ... save the world ...

Let common sense and simple decency win out for a change. Let the woman have the dog!

[GoldenOldie]

2. This is absolutely sick

Allowing military personnel to bring home dogs they have rescued, became attached to and in all probability helped them both to survive the horrors of war, not only helps the dogs, but helps the soldiers with any PTSD they will have to deal with, upon returning home. They sure as hell aren't getting the care they need and were promised from their government. It's cost effective to provide their dog, which totally understands and will never leave their side......consider them as therapy dogs.

[zbdent]

3. It would be interesting to compare names ...

the names of those who signed this petition with names of people who routinely denigrate animal lovers, saying that they are "more concerned with animal life than humans!" ...