Video of peacekeepers in Kosovo shooting dogs causes stir in Norway

signonsandiego.com ^ | February 20, 2004 | Doug Mellgren

[Destro]

Video of peacekeepers in Kosovo shooting dogs causes stir in Norway

By Doug Mellgren

ASSOCIATED PRESS

8:50 a.m. February 20, 2004

OSLO, Norway – A videotape set to music of Norwegian peacekeepers in Kosovo shooting dogs drew furious reactions in their homeland Friday.

The footage, called "Hotdog," aired on national TV on Thursday night and was edited to look and sound like a music video.

During the video, a soldier is shown shooting a dog at long range with a rifle, and another Norwegian peacekeeper appeared to empty his pistol into it at close range as the animal writhed in agony. It also shows a dog on a leash being shot.

"We see this as very serious and want to get to the bottom of it," said Cmdr. Thom Knustad, spokesman for the Norwegian military's operational command.

Norway has been a major contributor to many international peacekeeping operations, and prefers to see its soldiers as humane and effective.

Outrage over the video has been so intense that the leader of the Parliament's defense committee, Marit Nybakk, said she would demand an explanation from Defense Minister Kristin Krohn Devold.

The video was circulated among Norwegian Kosovo veterans and others by e-mail, and was posted on the Internet by Norway's largest newspaper, Verdens Gang. The video was e-mailed to Norwegian media outlets, including Verdens Gang.

The newspaper said the video was believed to have been recorded in March 2002 by peacekeepers from the elite Telemark Battalion, which has since returned to Norway. Verdens Gang said it had identified and spoken to some of those shown in the video, but did not report their names. Verdens Gang also said soldiers were believed to have wounded an elderly Kosovo Albanian man in the hand while shooting at dogs and then paid him to remain silent. The military was expected to establish a commission to investigate whether those involved could face military or civilian charges.

Norway has been part of the international peacekeeping force in Kosovo since 1999.

[Destro]

From what nation was that prime minister who was stabbed by a refugee Serb from again?

[2banana]

Imagine what would happen if they showed a video of a partial birth abortion...

[Destro]

bump

[lelio]

It also shows a dog on a leash being shot.

How about tying a leash on one of these "peacekeepers" (which is beginning to sound like "take a trip to a foreign land and screw as many underage hookers as you want!") and let them sit there with some hungry pit bulls?

[syriacus]

‘Concordia’ Soldiers [French] Beat Up Policeman Because He Wanted to Close Restaurant, June 10, 2003

Yesterday morning in Ohrid, [Macedonia?] two French soldiers from the ‘Concordia’ mission beat up a policeman who ordered the restaurant, in which they were drinking, to be closed because the working hours were over.

[MarkDel]

2banana,

Good point. Sadly, in the hideous world we live in, more people would complain about the dogs being killed than the babies being killed.

[LibWhacker]

Imagine what it would be like to oppose both abortion and animal cruelty . . .

[Eurotwit]

Sweden.

BTW, the Telemark battalion is now in Kabul.

[BykrBayb]

Those evil Americans! Wait, it wasn't us? I thought we were the Evil Empire. I thought our soldiers were the barbarians. You mean CBS, John Kerry, and a slew of others have been lying? Sacre bleu!

[Deguello]

http://www.dogbegone.com/

[AuntB]

I didn't notice Norway...or anybody else, for that matter, getting upset when Nato/Clinton/Clark bombed the crap out of Belgrade for 78 days. And they shoot defenseless animals, too. Should we be surprised? (rhetorical)

[claudiustg]

---From what nation was that prime minister who was stabbed by a refugee Serb from again?---

That was Sweden. These were mean ole Norwegians!

[Diddle E. Squat]

Too bad the Norwegians couldn't get upset like this over Saddam putting humans in shredders, or Palestinian terrorists blowing up children.

[joan]

He wasn't a refugee Serb; he was born in Sweden. Also, he had stabbed his own father a few years earlier and got no treatment or jail time for that.