Posted by: Lucie
Muntader Al Zaida – Shoe Thrower and “Iraqi Hero”
If you have a TV or basically live anywhere that isn’t under a rock, you will have heard about Iraqi journalist Muntader Al Zaida having managed to throw his shoes at American President, George Bush during a recent press conference. Let’s relive that moment, maybe even several times if you enjoy it as much as I do:
So of course this event has just reiterated just how much the reality of the invasion and American aggression in general is not reflected in mainstream news coverage. If the TV world of events bore any resemblance to reality then Al Zaida’s actions would hardly be surprising.
An interesting thing to note, is that in 99% of reporting on this you will find this sentence: “In Iraqi culture, throwing your shoes at somebody is widely regarded as a sign of contempt”. In case you found his actions a bit ambiguous, you see. I mean gosh, I hope his idea about throwing dirty things at people doesn’t catch on in the white/right parts of the world… like America. That would be a horrible way for “Iraqi” culture to infect us.
One more thing that I think is very worth noting (and something that has barely been mentioned), is that last year Al Zaida was kidnapped, beaten, questioned and then subsequently released two days later. The identity of his attackers has never been established.
Via Reuters:
Muntazer al-Zaidi, a correspondent for the independent al- Baghdadiya television station, said he spent more than two days blindfolded, barely eating and drinking, after armed men forced him into a car as he walked to work on Friday morning in the bustling Bab al-Sharji area of central Baghdad.
“My release is a miracle. I couldn’t believe I was still alive,” Zaidi, 28, told Reuters by telephone. Zaidi said the kidnappers had beaten him until he lost consciousness. They used his necktie to blindfold him and bound his hands with his shoelaces. He never learned the identity of the kidnappers, who questioned him closely about his work but did not demand a ransom.
Um… Three guesses, anyone?
That aside, there are now reports that Al Zaidi is being held in US run prison-camp Cropper and shows signs of torture. This despite assurances that the US President has enough faith in Iraqi security services to let them deal with Al Zaidi’s punishment themselves. It’s one and the same thing really, isn’t it? If American gov. trusts them, it’ll be because they’re US sponsored and instituted and so basically an extension of US policy anyway.
Via BBC:
The brother of the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush has said that the reporter has been beaten in custody. Muntadar al-Zaidi has allegedly suffered a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding, his older brother, Dargham, told the BBC.
According to Iraqi TV channel al-Sharqiya, “Al-Zaidi is in a difficult condition, with broken ribs and signs of tortures on his thighs. Also he can not move his right arm.”
Yeah, don’t really have any words.
I’d like to applaud the guy in this video who shells out sweets to strangers by means of celebration of the event, and the driver that calls Al Zaida an “Iraqi hero”. Sadly, I doubt that is much use to him wherever he is now, whatever state he is in.
Urgent appeals for Al Zaida’s safety should be made by phone to the White House – 202-456-1111 and the Iraqi Embassy – (202)
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This is definitely the Mother of all PR-disasters…
According to this article in the “Washington Post”, it’s heading for the Guiness Book of Records…at lightning speed!!!
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/15/Bush-shoe-throwing-goes-viral/
Quote:
“This is going viral at a rapid pace, unlike anything I’ve seen post-election,” said David Burch, marketing manager for TubeMogul, which tracks YouTube video views. “People are uploading videos of the incident to YouTube at an average rate of 209 per hour. Currently, there are over 5,000 versions, totaling over 8,145,000 views.”
That was yesterday…
I just hope that Mr. al-Zaidi will turn up- alive, without broken bones and in perfect shape.
Because if he doesn’t- there’ll be hell to pay…
Well isn’t that interesting.
According to the BBC (who apparently are getting the info from the guy’s brother), he already has broken ribs and internal bleeding. Meh. I wouldn’t be too optimistic if I were him.
The best we can hope for is that the entire world writes strongly worded letters, I think.
Hurray for strongly worded letters, the next best thing to attacking Bush with footwear!
Oh wait… no… THIS is the next best thing…
http://play.sockandawe.com/
@Lucie:
That’s what I was thinking of. At the time, it was hard to say if it was true (although my first impulse was “I’d be surprised if it wasn’t”).
There was a certain possibility that his brother may have fallen for the temptation of spicing things up a bit.
Maliki is an American Puppet- and he knows it. He would have to be naive not to understand that the Iraqis will sweep his bones out into the desert the moment he loses the backing of his “friends”.
So- on the one hand side, he can’t afford to ignore this incident; on the other hand side, he must know that his bones may be swept into aforementioned desert faster than he can look the moment Mr. al-Zaidi should wind up dead (and how much he would prefer *that*…)
The media are trying hard to forget the whole thing.
Hopefully, they will find that very, very difficult.
The problem is that a dead Muntada al-Zaidi would fit the agenda of Bush and his backers:
It would mean a huge pile of trouble in Iraq, and with that- the troops would have to stay there, of course…
I tried to keep track of the comments under one version of that video; I think most were positive, and many came from Americans. The flag-wavers in the US must hate it.
One of them showed his true face.
He kept going on about “…how much better the life of the Iraqis was, now that Saddam was gone…”
Except that there were a few Iraqis who thought differently.
His reaction:
“Was with all the fucking Iraqis around here…Youtube is American-owned!”, before launching into hurling a volley of abuse and insults at the Iraqis, at Arabs in general, and at Islam in particular.
Yes.
They are sooooo much better off now…
I just feel sorry for those Americans who have fully understood that something stinks in the state of Hit-the-Mark. And I fear that it’s not even remotely over.
The last presidential debate between Obama and McCain got a lot of media-coverage- naturally.
What the media forgot to cover was this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oRAKItO7NY&feature=related
Neither of the two candidates found it neccessary to mention it…
A statement which is loud and clear, methinks.
Catching on in America, eh? I was suspended from school 2 years ago for throwing a shoe through a window, an open window that is.
@Lucie Yea it is sad that neither candidates mentioned that. We just need to keep making our voices known and heard even if no official is taking notice to it. As long as the public sees and hears it, with their own eyes and ears. Its always better to have a first hand account of something.
The power of those who brought us Fagan and the Artful Dodger (…Cheney and Bush…) is resting on one pillar:
They control the media.
People have an almost unshakeable belief that the western media are “free and independent”.
If it’s possible to shake that belief, people will start to ask the relevant questions for themselves (provided they have not yet joined the “I’m-a-moron-out-of-sheer-conviction”-brigade or the “Thinking-is-too-stressing”-club.)
There’s nothing these guys fear more than questions…
Incidentally, look up the ‘IVAW’. The ‘Wintersoldiers’ first appeared at the time of the Vietnam-war; those guys revived the idea.
Their video-testimonials are bone-chilling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZTyfrg06Xc&feature=channel_page