ohmidog!

Say what you will about our soon to depart from office president, the man has got pretty good reaction time, and was far cooler under pressure than I would have expected — considering the shoes hurled at his head today in Baghdad by an Iraqi journalist appear to miss their mark by only inches.

He was calm, if not overly articulate in the immediate aftermath, and even came up with a witty remark a little later. “I’m OK,” he said. “All I can report is it is a size 10.”

“This is your farewell kiss, you dog!” the shoe hurler shouted in Arabic as he threw his shoes, according to the Associated Press.

Baghdad authorities killed more than 200 stray dogs on Sunday, the opening day of a campaign to cull dog packs roaming the capital city.

The campaign was prompted by a spate of fatal attacks on residents.

Three teams of veterinarians and police officers used poisoned meat and rifles to kill the animals, according to the Associated Press.

Dr. Hassan Chaloub, an official at the veterinary hospital supervising the effort confirmed that the campaign started Sunday in wester Baghdad and will move to the eastern half of the city early next year. He said the capital has no dog shelters.

Thirteen people died in August in the capital after being attacked by dogs, according to Baghdad’s provincial council, which is overseeing the campaign.

Under Saddam Hussein, authorities killed stray dogs in the capital almost every year, but the practice ended with his ouster in 2003. Since then, local officials estimate, the number of strays in Baghdad has grown to more than a thousand.

If you are among those wondering about the news media’s preoccupation with the Obama’s dog choice — amid all the other serious problems our country is facing — join the club.

Also count among its members one Julianne Hancock, a member of the Utah Air National Guard who has served a tour of duty in Iraq. When she got back, she got a dog from a shelter, a mutt named Izzy.  

A steady job, though, was not so easy to find. After losing her civilian job in the commercial lending industry earlier this year, she was having trouble finding new work. She couldn’t afford healthcare. With few other options, she signed up for another tour of duty. She leaves in January.

“I heard Mr. Obama tell Malia and Sasha that they earned their puppy on election night,” Hancock wrote in an open letter to Obama posted on The Daily Kos. “Izzy will be looking for a family. Any interest?”

Read more »

Ratchet, the rescued Iraqi pup, arrived in the U.S. last week, and here’s the video.

His first stop in Washington is shown above. To see him arriving in Minneapolis, click on this Minneapolis Star-Tribune video.

Ratchet, for two weeks, was the subject of a tug-of-war between a Minnesota soldier in Baghdad and a military that prohibits soldiers from bringing pets home from abroad.

Ratchet was rescued from a burning trash heap by American soldiers in Baghdad and adopted by Army Sgt. Gwen Beberg of Spring Lake Park.

When Beberg tried to get the seven-month-old border collie mix out of Iraq, and to her parents’ home in Minnesota, with help from Operation Baghdad Pups, an officer confiscated the dog as he was on the way to the airport.

Grateful for the emotional support he gave her, and fearful of what might happen if she left him in Iraq, Beberg posted the story on Facebook. 

A college friend blogged about Ratchet’s situation, posted it on the website Digg, drawing attention to the cause. That led to Internet petitions and almost 69,000 signatures from people around the world. Minnesota’s members of Congress also pressed for the dog’s release.

Decked out in a red, white and blue bandanna, a once homeless Iraqi mutt named Ratchet jumped out of his crate and wagged his tail at the airport Monday, three flights and two days after his much-postponed departure from Iraq.

Discovered by Army Spc. Gwen Beberg and fellow soldiers in a burning trash pile on the streets of Baghdad, Ratchet was taken in by Beberg, whose efforts to have him shipped home led to the dog being confiscated by U.S. military officials.

Later, the Army relented — its rules forbid soldiers bringing dogs home from foreign lands — and Ratchet was placed aboard a flight to Kuwait, another to Amsterdam, then another to Washington.

He will spend two nights in a kennel before flying to Minneapolis, where Beberg’s parents will pick him up. Beberg is scheduled to return home next month, the Associated Press reported. Northwest Airlines is donating the flight to Minnesota.

“I’m very excited that Ratchet will be waiting for me when I get home from Iraq! Words can’t describe it,” Beberg said in an e-mail to friends and family. “I hope that Ratchet’s story will inspire people to continue the efforts to bring more service members’ animals home from Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The dog was rescued by Operation Baghdad Pups, run by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International. The group, which has now brought 63 animals to the U.S., says the effort both saves dogs and cats and helps soldiers who benefit from the bond with the animals.

Ratchet frolicked on a grassy patch outside the airport before heading off to Clocktower Animal Hospital in Herndon, Va., for a checkup and some shots, where he was pronounced “extremely healthy.

Ratchet, a dog adopted by a U.S. soldier in Iraq, was put aboard a plane to Kuwait today and is expected to be flown to Washington tomorrow, CNN reported.

Operation Baghdad Pups, a project of SPCA International, said once a veterinarian determines the dog is healthy he will be flown to Minnesota — the home state of Sgt. Gwen Beberg, one of a group of soliders who saved Ratchet from a burning trash pile.

Beberg tried to have the dog flown home to the United States on October 1, but the military, which prohibits soldiers from adopting pets abroad and bringing them home, confiscated the dog on the way to the airport.

Operation Baghdad Pups returned to pick up Ratchet this weekend, after the military reconsidered and cleared Ratchet’s trip. More than 65,000 people signed two online petitions urging the military to let Ratchet go to the United States.

On Sunday, private security contractors took Ratchet from a base to the airport, where he was put on a charter flight to Kuwait. Northwest Airlines is donating the flights from Kuwait to Minnesota, SPCA  officials said.

Beberg’s deployment started in September 2007 and is scheduled to end in November.

“She was absolutely miserable in the war and was really struggling to keep going every day. Ratchet turned it around for her,” SPCA spokeswoman Stephanie Scroggs said last week.

Beberg’s mother, Patricia Beberg, in a statement released by the SPCA, said Ratchet “was the savior of her [daughter's] sanity” in Iraq.

More than 20,000 people have signed an online petition urging the Army to let Ratchet — an Iraqi dog adopted by a U.S. soldier — come to America.

And the soldier’s congressman, Democrat Keith Ellison, has written to the Army, asking it to review the case, the Associated Press reports.

As we reported earlier, Sergeant Gwen Beberg of Minneapolis took in a puppy in May that she and another soldier rescued from a burning pile of trash.

She went through the channels to allow it to be shipped home, only to find those channels have grown narrower than they once were. Defense Department rules — though they’ve been relaxed from time to time — prohibit soldiers in the U.S. Central Command, which includes Iraq, from adopting pets.

Beberg has since been separated from the dog, which was confiscated by the Army on its way to the airport, and she fears it will be killed.

“I just want my puppy home,” Beberg wrote to her mother in an e-mail Sunday from Iraq. “I miss my dog horribly.” Beberg, 28, is scheduled to return to the U.S. next month.

Operation Baghdad Pups Program, which is run by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, International, is hoping to rescue the puppy. Its program coordinator is flying to Iraq this week to try to get Ratchet out.

Fifteen more Iraqi pets befriended and taken in by U.S. soldiers made their way back to the U.S. Wednesday via Operation Baghdad Pups, but Ratchet (left) was not among them.

Scheduled to be flown home to Sgt. Gwen Beberg’s parents in Minneapolis, Ratchet was confiscated by U.S. military officials on his way to the Baghdad Airport for no apparent reason, according to SPCA International, which operates the program.

The SPCA International initiative was created to provide medical care, clearance and transport home to animals U.S. soldiers have come to love and care for during deployment in the Middle East.

On Wednesday Operation Baghdad Pups Program Manger, Terri Crisp, returned to the United States Wednesday with 15 more U.S. soldiers’ pets. But the happy occasion was marred by news that  Ratchet was left behind.

At least 5 other soldiers are facing situations similar to Sgt. Beberg’s as the military cracks down on animal friendships they consider to be harmful, SPCA International says.

“There comes a point when Americans must ask, whose side is the military on? The way the military is blatantly disregarding free therapy for our mentally wounded soldiers begs that question today,” said  Crisp. 

Sgt. Beberg’s mother, Patricia Beberg, was saddened by the news as well. The sergeant has been in Iraq 15 months past her original return date.

“It has been a year of disappointments, loneliness, and fear because of all the sacrifices the army has required of Gwen. Ratchet was the savior of her sanity. I don’t know how my daughter will cope. Ratchet has been her lifeline,” explains Sgt. Beberg’s mother.

“Hundreds of U.S. soldiers in the Middle East befriend animals in the war zone to help themselves cope with the hardship and terror they face every day. These dogs and cats become their lifeline - saving them from deep depression and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),” SPCA International said in a press release.

“The military refuses to help or formally recognize the lifeline these animals give to our mentally wounded. Veterans returned from Iraq are committing suicide at twice the rate of average Americans. It is time that Americans ask the Veterans Administration and the military to embrace all measures to ensure the mental health of every one of our soldiers returning from war.  Operation Baghdad Pups’ dogs and cats can help fight this silent killer.”

So far, more than 1,200 have signed an online petition for the military to release Ratchet.