Bagdad Pups

by digby

Like a lot of people, I’m feeling a lot of anxiety these days. And while I’m happy and relieved at the idea that the Republicans are going to be out of office for a while, the mess they’ve left is so huge and nearly unmanageable that it’s hard to get excited about it.

So, I take good stories where I can find them. This one, from the SPCA, warmed my heart:

Operation Baghdad Pups began with an email received on September 11, 2007. The desperate words of the U.S. soldier serving in Iraq told of his desire to get the dog, Charlie, he and his regiment had befriended out of the Middle East before their tour of duty ended. Because it is against regulations for troops to befriend an animal or transport one on a military flight, the likelihood of the determined soldiers succeeding alone seemed doubtful.
Members of this Army regiment discovered the dog earlier that summer while patrolling a dangerous neighborhood on the outskirts of Baghdad. The malnourished and flea covered puppy, no bigger than a baked potato, was scooped up by a soldier who felt sorry for the pitiful orphan. Hidden in a tattered blanket, the puppy was snuck onto the Coalition Outpost. As the soldiers took turns secretly caring for the puppy the strong bond between man and dog grew.

“Taking care of Charlie gave me something to look forward to everyday,” one soldier explained. “When all the guys got to playing with him we forgot where we were, the horrible things we had seen, and what we still had to go through. Charlie definitely made our time in Iraq more bearable. He was like a welcomed piece of home right here in the midst of Baghdad.”
Abandoning Charlie in this war ravaged country, consumed in hatred and destruction, would have meant certain death for him. “We all made him a promise that we would not give up. We’d find a way somehow to get him to a better life in the states,” the soldier wrote in that first email.
How could SPCA International not intervene?

Operation Baghdad Pups has now successfully rescued Charlie and other dogs befriended by our troops, out of Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the logistics of moving animals from a war zone to a new home are extremely complicated and expensive. To learn more about these complicated hurdles each Baghdad Pup must overcome, visit the efforts page.
…

An email we received from one soldier says it all, “I have sacrificed a lot to serve my country. All that I ask in return is to be allowed to bring home the incredible dog that wandered into my life here in Iraq and prevented me from becoming terribly callous towards life.”

I have no idea what it’s like to be a soldier. But I do know that the love of a furry creature is one of the most profoundly humanizing relationships you can have. If these soldiers needed to take care of those dogs then I fully support these efforts to bring them back to the states even though we all know there are many homeless dogs and cats right here. This is about these soldiers and their grip on their own humanity.

I recall that John Burns, the long time middle east reporter for the NY Times wrote about his relationship with his Bagdad cats and how he went to the extreme trouble of having them brought back to England with him. I think this must be a common reaction among those who spent time in a war zone. There’s something about caring for an innocent, defenseless animal that probably keeps you a little bit more sane and you are afraid if you let that go, you’ll lose it altogether.

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