It’s classic animal abuse, but PETA is nowhere to be found. The Independent reported Tuesday that “the US has stopped exporting bomb-sniffing dogs to Egypt and Jordan after a number of animals died from mistreatment and neglect, US authorities said.” However, the stoppage is only temporary. More dogs are going to be sent to those countries, and more are going to die.
This is because U.S. authorities have no earthly idea what could possibly be the motive of Egyptian and Jordanian law enforcement in mistreating these dogs. The explanation is simple, but since it lies outside the bounds of the military establishment’s politically correct fantasies regarding Islam, it will almost certainly never be acknowledged.
The fact that the decision to stop sending these highly trained dogs to Egypt and Jordan is only “temporary” shows that those who run the Antiterrorism Assistance Explosive Detection Canine Program, “which was established by the US government in 1983 to provide training and supplies to foreign law enforcement personnel,” think that whatever is leading the Egyptians and Jordanians to mistreat these dogs is a passing fancy, and that soon cooler heads will prevail.
Or maybe they think they will have a sit-down with the Egyptian and Jordanian law enforcement personnel and explain to them that the sniffer dogs respond better when they’re not starved or kicked, and then everyone will have a good laugh over this little misunderstanding, and everything will be all right.
The American officials may think all the Americans need to do is explain to the Egyptians and Jordanians that, as a State Department official put it, these dogs “play a critical role in our counterterrorism efforts overseas and in saving American lives.”
The Egyptians and Jordanians certainly don’t seem to realize or care about this now. The Independent added:
The September report, published by the State Department Office of the Inspector General, detailed unacceptable conditions in Jordan and included photographs of emaciated dogs and faeces-covered floors in kennels. A follow-up report earlier this month found two dogs had died in Jordan of heat stroke and insecticide poisoning respectively….It also found three out of 10 dogs sent to Egypt in August 2018 have died, but Egyptian authorities have not allowed US personnel to access the dogs or their kennels.
Their embarrassment is understandable, as is the reason why they abused these dogs in the first place. They did so because Islam hates dogs, and all over the Islamic world hatred for dogs, and abuse of them, is common. Like so much else that is noxious about Islamic law, this goes back to Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. One hadith states: “Once Gabriel promised the Prophet (that he would visit him, but Gabriel did not come) and later on he said, ‘We, angels, do not enter a house which contains a picture or a dog’” (Sahih Bukhari 4.54.50).
Well, that’s good to know, and it’s not all. According to another hadith, Muhammad wanted the dogs dead: “Abdullah (b. Umar) (Allah be pleased with them) reported: Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) ordered the killing of dogs and we would send (men) in Medina and its corners and we did not spare any dog that we did not kill, so much so that we killed the dog that accompanied the wet she-camel belonging to the people of the desert” (Sahih Muslim 3811).
Muhammad allowed for two exceptions, but neither one was for bomb-sniffing dogs: “Ibn Mughaffal reported: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) ordered killing of the dogs, and then said: What about them, i. e. about other dogs? and then granted concession (to keep) the dog for hunting and the dog for (the security) of the herd, and said: When the dog licks the utensil, wash it seven times, and rub it with earth the eighth time” (Sahih Muslim 551).
Recognizing any of this, however, would require the State Department to abandon its official insistence that Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance, and sunshine and roses and all good things. The idea that State will discard these fantasies now, however, after clinging to them for so many years and in the teeth of so very much evidence to the contrary, is virtually inconceivable. And so more dogs will have to die.
The State Department official quoted above also said: “Any death of a canine in the field is an extremely sad event and we will take every measure possible to prevent this from happening in the future.” Since the State Department refuses to face reality regarding Islam and its view of dogs, this State wonk should start preparing for the deaths of many more of these canines.
Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book is The Palestinian Delusion: The Catastrophic History of the Middle East Peace Process. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member