thedrifter
03-11-07, 09:27 AM
Lava's long journey from Iraq to U.S.
By Diane La Rue
Saturday, March 10, 2007 11:30 PM EST
Books about dogs are popular reads. “Marley and Me,” for example, spent more than a year at the top of the best seller list. Books about the Iraq war, including the newly released “In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing” by Bob and Lee Woodruff, are also big sellers.
“From Baghdad, With Love: A Marine, the War and a Dog Named Lava” by Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman with Melinda Roth combines both. Kopelman was a Marine stationed in Baghdad who attempts to bring a dog home to California from Iraq. The cover of the book is irresistible to dog lovers; a sleeping puppy curled on a person's chest.
The opening scene of the book describes Marines searching an abandoned house in the dangerous city of Fallujah in November 2004. The members of the First Battalion, Third Marines, called the Lava Dogs, heard a clicking noise that they thought could be grenade pins being pulled. They readied their weapons and the tension was palpable.
As they turned the corner of the room, they discovered the source of the clicking noise; it was a little puppy, who was so excited at seeing people that he enthusiastically wagged his tail and ran towards the Marines, completely oblivious to the fact that he could have been killed, toenails clicking away on the floor.
Lt. Kopelman was not at the house. He met Lava when he went to the house that was being used as a base of operations. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something flying at him. It was a ball of fur whirling at his feet, like a wind-up toy, racing around in circles. With his frayed nerves, Lava again had no idea how close he once again came to being shot.
Lava puffs himself up, growls and makes this weird noise that Kopelman describes as “roo roo roving,” bouncing up and down on his short little legs. Lava wants Kopelman to chase him, so he runs around in circles, eventually running into a wall. Although he smells like kerosene, once Lava begins to lick the dirt off Kopelman's face, the Marine is hooked.
Servicemen and women are not allowed to keep animals. They are usually ordered to kill any strays that they find. Most of the strays are starving and many of them survive by eating the bodies that litter the streets, so it is a bad situation. But they could not bring themselves to kill this little puppy.
Kopelman intersperses the story of Lava with the work that the Marines are doing. He describes the harsh conditions and the sudden violent confrontations in a matter-of-fact manner that does not make the battles any less frightening. Insurgents would strap bombs to animals and send them out to detonate near American and Iraqi soldiers and civilians.
One incident that he relates exemplifies the horror of this war. Terrorists kidnap Amar, a young man with Down's syndrome.
They strap a bomb to him and send him out to a polling place on election day. Crying all the way, Amar turns around and walks back to the terrorists. They detonate the bomb and kill him. Amar's parents are at a party celebrating the election when they hear that a Down's syndrome boy has been used as a suicide bomber. They are inconsolable when they realize what has happened to their son.
Kopelman is scheduled to return home and wants to bring Lava with him. If there is anything more difficult than keeping a dog while in the military in Iraq, it is sending him back to the United States. But Kopelman knew that when he left, Lava would be killed.
The military makes no provisions for sending animals home, so Kopelman searched for civilian groups who would assist him.
This section of the book becomes a thriller, as we ping pong back and forth between the various connections that Kopelman made to bring Lava to his home in California.
An Iams pet food company representative, a man who owns a company that trains bomb sniffing dogs for duty in Iraq and Anne Garrels, a reporter for National Public Radio, were among the people that Kopelman recruited. He brought the same dedication that he learned as a Marine to accomplish this task.
When the arrangements were made to get Lava on a plane to the United States, the hardest part was getting Lava through roadblocks to get to the airport.
It is Sam, an Iraqi man that Anne Garrels knows, who is the real hero in this situation.
While some people may ask why so much was done to bring a stray dog out of Iraq when there are so many stray dogs that need rescuing right here or why, when there is so much human suffering in Iraq, so much effort was expended to save a dog, it is the humanity of these people to save one little puppy that shines so bright in this story. I give “From Baghdad, With Love” three stars. The book was also chosen as a Reader's Digest Editors' Choice and a 2006 Borders Original Voices Nonfiction finalist.
Auburn native Diane La Rue's lifelong goal is to read a book a week. If you have suggestions, e-mail her at laruediane2000@yahoo.com
Ellie
By Diane La Rue
Saturday, March 10, 2007 11:30 PM EST
Books about dogs are popular reads. “Marley and Me,” for example, spent more than a year at the top of the best seller list. Books about the Iraq war, including the newly released “In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing” by Bob and Lee Woodruff, are also big sellers.
“From Baghdad, With Love: A Marine, the War and a Dog Named Lava” by Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman with Melinda Roth combines both. Kopelman was a Marine stationed in Baghdad who attempts to bring a dog home to California from Iraq. The cover of the book is irresistible to dog lovers; a sleeping puppy curled on a person's chest.
The opening scene of the book describes Marines searching an abandoned house in the dangerous city of Fallujah in November 2004. The members of the First Battalion, Third Marines, called the Lava Dogs, heard a clicking noise that they thought could be grenade pins being pulled. They readied their weapons and the tension was palpable.
As they turned the corner of the room, they discovered the source of the clicking noise; it was a little puppy, who was so excited at seeing people that he enthusiastically wagged his tail and ran towards the Marines, completely oblivious to the fact that he could have been killed, toenails clicking away on the floor.
Lt. Kopelman was not at the house. He met Lava when he went to the house that was being used as a base of operations. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something flying at him. It was a ball of fur whirling at his feet, like a wind-up toy, racing around in circles. With his frayed nerves, Lava again had no idea how close he once again came to being shot.
Lava puffs himself up, growls and makes this weird noise that Kopelman describes as “roo roo roving,” bouncing up and down on his short little legs. Lava wants Kopelman to chase him, so he runs around in circles, eventually running into a wall. Although he smells like kerosene, once Lava begins to lick the dirt off Kopelman's face, the Marine is hooked.
Servicemen and women are not allowed to keep animals. They are usually ordered to kill any strays that they find. Most of the strays are starving and many of them survive by eating the bodies that litter the streets, so it is a bad situation. But they could not bring themselves to kill this little puppy.
Kopelman intersperses the story of Lava with the work that the Marines are doing. He describes the harsh conditions and the sudden violent confrontations in a matter-of-fact manner that does not make the battles any less frightening. Insurgents would strap bombs to animals and send them out to detonate near American and Iraqi soldiers and civilians.
One incident that he relates exemplifies the horror of this war. Terrorists kidnap Amar, a young man with Down's syndrome.
They strap a bomb to him and send him out to a polling place on election day. Crying all the way, Amar turns around and walks back to the terrorists. They detonate the bomb and kill him. Amar's parents are at a party celebrating the election when they hear that a Down's syndrome boy has been used as a suicide bomber. They are inconsolable when they realize what has happened to their son.
Kopelman is scheduled to return home and wants to bring Lava with him. If there is anything more difficult than keeping a dog while in the military in Iraq, it is sending him back to the United States. But Kopelman knew that when he left, Lava would be killed.
The military makes no provisions for sending animals home, so Kopelman searched for civilian groups who would assist him.
This section of the book becomes a thriller, as we ping pong back and forth between the various connections that Kopelman made to bring Lava to his home in California.
An Iams pet food company representative, a man who owns a company that trains bomb sniffing dogs for duty in Iraq and Anne Garrels, a reporter for National Public Radio, were among the people that Kopelman recruited. He brought the same dedication that he learned as a Marine to accomplish this task.
When the arrangements were made to get Lava on a plane to the United States, the hardest part was getting Lava through roadblocks to get to the airport.
It is Sam, an Iraqi man that Anne Garrels knows, who is the real hero in this situation.
While some people may ask why so much was done to bring a stray dog out of Iraq when there are so many stray dogs that need rescuing right here or why, when there is so much human suffering in Iraq, so much effort was expended to save a dog, it is the humanity of these people to save one little puppy that shines so bright in this story. I give “From Baghdad, With Love” three stars. The book was also chosen as a Reader's Digest Editors' Choice and a 2006 Borders Original Voices Nonfiction finalist.
Auburn native Diane La Rue's lifelong goal is to read a book a week. If you have suggestions, e-mail her at laruediane2000@yahoo.com
Ellie