Exposed: The New York Times' Baghdad Attack Dogs

One of Eason Jordan's three wounded fingers
after being attacked by a New York Times
Baghdad bureau dog March 18, 2007.

It was a stunning, painful sneak attack that landed me in the emergency room of the U.S . Army's hospital in Baghdad's Green Zone.

The attacker: Scratch, one of The New York Times' Baghdad bureau dogs, whose vicious bite opened three deep gashes in my right hand, sending blood spewing in all directions.

After being treated by medics at the New York Times bureau, I spent hours in the Combat Support Hospital's trauma center surrounded by mangled Iraqis, including a 10-year-old boy and a 50-ish man, both of whom were so badly burned and disfigured I doubt they survived.

In the midst of such misery and sadness, I defied U.S. Army doctors' orders to remain overnight in the hospital and, instead, fled after getting a tetanus shot and being x-rayed, cleaned up, and bandaged.

I downplayed it at the time, thinking it a freak, one-off nip in a country where there is genuinely horrific bloodshed every day.

Beyond that, when New York Times correspondents told me they were considering euthanizing Scratch because of the attack, I pleaded with them to spare the dog's life, which they did.

Only later did I learn of other attacks by Baghdad bureau pet dogs, the latest of which was reported today when Reuters broke the news that U.S. officials are investigating the killing of a New York Times bureau dog by a Blackwater contractor who claimed his Blackwater dog was attacked by a New York Times bureau dog, Hentish, last week.

Reported here for the first time: two other attacks by a New York Times Baghdad bureau pet dog.

Last month, a New York Times correspondent told me one of the bureau dogs bit an Iraqi in the crotch and attacked photojournalist Mike Kambers in the chest (if a dog bit me in the crotch, I might be inclined to euthanize it on the spot).

The New York Times correspondent assured the bureau's compound had finally been cleared of all dogs.

Now, weeks later, we learn of the dog attack involving Blackwater at the Times' Baghdad compound.

The New York Times' Baghdad bureau is renowned for its superb reporting, its unrivaled bureau quarters, and its scrumptious food.

It's now infamous for its attack dogs.

Eason Jordan is the chief executive of Praedict and its IraqSlogger news service.

Comments

[Sciguy]

The ones who should be euthanized are the people who trained the dogs to attack. Yes, many dogs will bite if terrified or provoked. I've heard that some breeds do seem to be more prone to unwarranted attacking, but I'm not sure if that's true (and I'm too lazy to look up the stats). Regardless of breed, some dogs are better-tempered than others. Nonetheless, dogs generally do what they're trained to do, and if they're trained as attack dogs, they'll BE attack dogs. The shame is on the NYT (and on Blackwater) for having them.

[pros54]

The story of being beaten by a dog may true but the picture does shown is not what you will see in a fresh dog bite as it shows the edges of a chronic healing wound (look towards the base of the finger and the blood tracking is too neat to be the outcome of a dog bite as one would expect more blood spattering involving either side of the skin bounding the track. And the perceived spot of blood is just too "hollywoodish" to be true unless the picture was taken at a much later date when may be he was changing the dressing to the wound. I am not a dog lover by any chance but I like to verify stories.

[Steambomb]

Well. Consider this Dogs are protective of their pack. This pack includes the humans that they are close to. So it might stand to reason that dogs in iraq are alot more protective because of the atmosphere they are in. Think much?

[socal55]

If I worked in one of the Times bureau's I would feel uncomfortable having visitors to my office whipping out and firing weapons. Blackwater mercs think of a glock like you or I would one of those fold up multi tool gadgets you can get at costco. They can fix anything with it

[hopeless277]

They're just practicin' on the dawgs for when they enforce Bush's martial law right before the elections. By that time they'll have worked their way up to babies and children. War for profit, it's the American way.

[chrisrushlau]

Firstly, I checked the Reuters hotlink, and this story is genuine.
Secondly, as of ten A.M. Wednesday, only one commenter has commented on the NYT keeping out-of-control dogs around.
Is it such a big deal? It reminds you the NYT is people, with whatever faults each might have.
The out-of-control dog always implicates the out-of-control owner.
So can we accept that the NYT is not any more noble and pure than the pastor at church or you or me: that all of us have to pass the case-by-case standard? None of us gets through on a name.
If we let people through on prestige value, we're using them for entertainment value, and it serves us right when they use us for whatever they use us for.

[coloneblog]

Listen, the war is over; we've won, bring'm home!

[brently]

My brother-in-law, a ranking officer recently back from a second tour in Iraq, told our family at Thanksgiving that Blackwater killed his company's adopted pet dog, as well. Why do we hire these musscle-head, have-gun-will-fire idiots disguised as do-gooders?

[Egbert]

Read between the lines -- the purpose of this news story is to say that all of the other stories about Blackwater shooting people are a joke.

Ha ha -- it's so funny that the NY Times are making a fuss about their dog being shot by Blackwater, despite their dog being a vicious animal! The dog deserved it!

That's another way of saying ...

Ha ha - it's so funny the government of Iraq is making a fuss about their citizens being shot by Blackwater, despite their citizens being vicious terrorists! The Iraqis deserve it!

This dog shooting is a non-story. Who benefits by making it into a big news story? President Bush and Blackwater.

[AMolinaro]

As a lifelong dog owner, often of supposedly dangerous breeds obtained from rescues. While I don't agree with shooting a dog in general, people need to keep in mind that dogs are carnivorous predators who can be very dangerous if not properly trained and cared for. None of my dogs has ever bitten a person, and I seriously question the fitness for pet ownership of anyone whose dog attacks a human.

[PrinceHal]

Somebody should have given credit where credit is due for that dog-and-gun picture on Huffpo's Page 1. It was used on the cover of an issue of National Lampoon 30 or 40 years ago. The coverline read: "If you don't buy this magazine, we'll shoot this dog." The brilliant art director was Michael Gross. The photographer? I don't know, but it was one terrific cover. Thankfully, the dog survived.

[GordonDR]

A tetanus shot, huh? Are you trying to say you went to Iraq without making sure your tetanus vaccinations were up to date? Further: tetanus is a pathogen that lives mainly in the soil. And if you get tetanus, you can be treated. The real potential danger to you was from rabies. You didn't need to stay in the hospital overnight; the _dog_ needed to be isolated and tested. (Or maybe its rabies shots were more up to date than your tetanus ones?) If you'd come down with rabies, that would have been game over for you. Good luck in your next war zone.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Like I said, it's a doggie doggie style world out there.

[NickCatal]

Might I also add that bomb sniffing dog is worth a hell of a lot more than a 'pet' that the NYT has on their compound (not only in money, in assets to protecting humans.)

Not every dog can be a bomb sniffing dog.

All in all, if your dog is coming after my extremely-important and trained dog and as a trained handler I can not prevent my dog from being attacked then I'm going to shoot the other dog.

[arvo]

You're joking, right?