P.E.T.A.—Iraq is Calling

The war in Iraq is really getting out-of-hand. The Los Angeles Times reported today (Servants -- and Weapons -- of War) that Iraqi insurgents are strapping explosives on dogs and remotely blowing them up. Not only that, but they also did it to a donkey. Seems like I heard about a donkey demise in the Palestinian area some time ago. But wait, it seems that the use of dogs as bomb fodder is not received well in Iraq, even by insurgent sympathetic clerics:

Despite a common prejudice in the Muslim world against dogs, which are considered unclean, even the most virulent clerical opponents of the U.S. presence in Iraq have decried the use of canines as proxies in the war.

"Dogs have been used in many areas by insurgents throughout Iraq" to carry explosive devices, said Noori Noori, inspector-general at the Interior Ministry.

"They used mentally retarded people for operations during the elections, so why shouldn't they use animals?"…Muslim Scholars Assn., a hard-line Sunni Arab clerical organization sympathetic to insurgents, called the practice un-Islamic. "Our religion does not permit us to hurt animals,"

Let me figure this out. It’s OK to blow up mentally retarded people, but not dogs? If a “true believer” blows himself up for Allah, he goes straight heaven and is awarded 72 virgins. If a dog is blown up for the glory of Allah, what does the dog get?

Obviously there is a need for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (P.E.T.A.) to get involved. I went to the P.E.T.A. web site, and I did not find any reference to the Iraqi canine abuse. There were action items about dogs in hot cars, etc., but no mention of Iraq. It’s pretty hot in Iraq so you might think that P.E.T.A. would have already initiated an investigation in that part of the world. I know that they don’t have a chapter in Iraq, so the field is wide open. I’ll bet they could get a whole basketful of dinars donated to their coffers if they would just put on a little demonstration in Baghdad. Maybe Jihad Jane will champion their cause. Can’t you just see JJ sitting on an IED (improvised explosive device) protesting the war and canine abuse? Please, no one write me and suggest that you would be happy to detonate her!