By Edward Harris, Associated Press, 11/6/2004 15:17
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP)
(snip)
Blowing off steam, hundreds of Marines took their cue from the 1959 Charlton Heston classic and gathered Saturday at a base near Fallujah for a slapstick chariot race featuring cobbled-together carts and confiscated Iraqi horses.
The Marine charioteers, wearing togas over their body armor, waved baseball bats done up as spiked maces and jumped into carts forged from cast-off vehicle parts. The makeshift chariots were pulled by Iraqi horses commandeered from looters in the area.
(snip)
''We're ready to go. I'm just ready to get this done. I want to go and kill people, so we can go home,'' said Lance Cpl. Joseph Bowman, 20, from North Zulch, Texas. ''Kill them and go home, that's all we can do now.'' But first, the Marines had a little fun with the horses. ''Friends, Romans, Marines: Lend me your ears for the rules,'' bellowed the master of ceremonies Capt. Jonathan Vaughn, 30, of Cleveland. ''If all horses die before the finish line, whichever makes it the farthest, wins.'' Vaughn's rule seemed prudent since some of the horses didn't look in prime racing shape, although none died. And the race didn't come off exactly as planned one steed turned on its charioteer in the first race and tried to bite the Marine who fended the horse off with a wooden trident, drawing loud cheers.
(snip)
A weapons team duo eventually prevailed in the final heat. The horse ran straight over the finish line, scattering Marine bystanders and slamming snout-first into sand-filled barriers. The horse was unhurt.
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There is an awful picture by AP photographer Anja Niedringhaus of this brutal treatment of these horses: the horses are tied around their necks and have somehow twisted around to face the marines while still crudely hitched to the cart. The man is thrusting a huge trident spear into the terrified horses' faces. I couldn't find the picture on the web yet. The AP picture is in my local paper but not on the paper's website.
DU animal lovers and horse people: please help me protest the brutal treatment of these horses. In WWII, General Patton saved the Lippizzaners from extinction by cooperating with German veterinarians and the Spanish Riding School to evacuate the horses out of the danger zone. Now, we torture them. The horses in the picture look like Arabians. Horses are fragile creatures who can be easily crippled by this sort of barbaric treatment.
This story made me cry.