Iraqi TV Journalist Throws Shoes at Bush at Press Conference
| Sun Dec. 14, 2008 11:45 AM PST
President Bush is in Baghdad today for a surprise visit to mark the finalizing of the Status of Forces Agreement, which governs the presence of American troops in Iraq going forward. One journalist at the press conference Bush held with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki decided to use the opportunity to express his feelings about Bush. Watch it below.
Bush stated in a recent interview that he wants his legacy to rest, in part, on the fact that he "liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace." But let's be real. There isn't any glory in Bush's legacy. There isn't even dignity. The final image of our occupation of Iraq during the Bush Administration will be an Iraqi citizen making a small, futile, but enraged attempt to make a statement about his supposed "liberator."
And, by the way, that man will never have to buy a drink in Baghdad again. Whenever he gets out of Gitmo, of course.
Monday Update: When I made a joke yesterday about this journalist (whose name is Muntadhar al-Zeidi, by the way) being a local hero and being tossed in Gitmo, I didn't think I'd be right one day later. The headline from today's Washington Post article on the subject: "Across Mideast, Arabs hail shoe-hurling journalist." From the article:
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Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday to demand the release of a reporter who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush, as Arabs across many parts of the Middle East hailed the journalist as a hero and praised his insult as a proper send-off to the unpopular U.S. president....
Journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi, who was kidnapped by militants last year, was being held by Iraqi security Monday and interrogated about whether anybody paid him to throw his shoes at Bush during a press conference the previous day in Baghdad, said an Iraqi official....
"Al-Zeidi is the man," said 42-year-old Jordanian businessman Samer Tabalat. "He did what Arab leaders failed to do."
Comments
The Bull, good point! But sober or not this journalist will now easily get elected to Iraq's parliament or to an even higher office. Iraqi political parties will fight over him to bolster their street cred.
Ironically, he would owe the elections and his notoriety to the man he despises!
Submitted by Marie Burns (not verified) on Mon Dec. 15, 2008 6:02 AM PST.
Comments are funny, but the underlying truth is pathetic. Part of Jonathan's comment is the 'quote of the day' on Reality Chex because, along with the shoe toss, it speaks so succinctly to Bush's last chapter (and may we dispense with an epilogue).
Constant Weader at www.RealityChex.com
A victory tour; Amazing. The guy is SO out of touch with reality. January 20 still seems far away. Much work has to be done to restore Our Constitution, Bill of Rights, Habeus Corpus, close the private prisons, fire the private army, stop rendition, stop invading/occupying autonomous countries, repair Our tattered reputation in the world. Hey, maybe we will even have a surplus in our Treasury again in 30+ years, and the dollar will have real value too. OOPS,, I'm an American wishing for too much again, sorry.
"Written by a cowardly, no-talent liberal.
Hey liberals: would you have a problem with conservatives throwing shows at one of your poster boys, Gov. Blagojevich of Illinois? I'm guessing you would be hypocritical enough to be against it."
actually, if throwing a shoe here carried as much insult as it did there, yes.
here it wouldn't be nearly as strong enough a statement. but that's the usual "can't win on our own principles, have to draw in something Completely Unrelated to divert attention from an ongoing problem we refuse to acknowledge" by a no talent conservative.
so the conservative writing the above only likes free speech when it says something he agrees with. when will conservative though be called what it actually is? lock-step fascism. shame on all your behavior. here. Iraq. SHAME.
Let w's legacy go down in infamy and let there be a new ring of hell created for him and everyone who enabled his reign of terror, where there is constant violence, denied, covered up, said to be For A Good Cause and Eternally PAID FOR IN EVERY SENSE.
The shoe was a beautiful last word. How PATHETIC they've imprisoned him.
Hey SteveIL,
EVERYONE should be throwing their "shoes" at corrupt, slimy, arrogant, lying, thieving, inept, imbecilic, politicians - not just social conservatives, or outraged Iraqis.
A dialogue amongst those who greatly disagree is not only very enlightening, very human, but also VERY American!!! Polarization of factions is one tenent, of many, to take and maintain political power, listed in Nicolo Machievelli's "The Prince"; All should read it.
I don't think it would hurt you to look up the word "liberal", SteveIL, and hit spellcheck before posting. Best to You
Hmmmmm,,, I guess SteveIL deleted his comments. Too bad. Hey, maybe the KoolAid wore off - one can only hope.
Oh,,,Machiavelli wrote "The Prince" around the year 1532. Shame, that distracting the population from what is REALLY going on, has not changed.
Even Plato's "Allegory of a Cave" from about 500 B.C., attacks the ignorance of populations, and the control/manipulation of information by those in power. Amazing.
Wow he's a hero now???? WHAT IF, he threw that shoe at Suddam Hussein? He has no resentment towards a man who killed people on a daily basis just because? But he's so mad at Bush for liberating the Iraqi people. Whatever would have been done to him if it was the other leader, should be done to him now for such a ignorant act.
matter of fact, yes, i am. i hate america inc.'s imperialism guised as 'spreading 'democarcy'.
all of you need to take your blinders off. america is THE rogue nation on the planet.
genocide, torture, war for shits and giggles? wake up idiots.
I have started a grassroots campaign of "Throw a Shoe at Bush". Please show your disgust with George Bush's policies both domestic and abroad by mailing him a pair of your old shoes.
Please mail them this week to ensure he gets them before he leaves office and just in time for the Christmas holiday!
THROW A SHOE AT BUSH!
Seeing the video shows that the shoes missed Bushy by approximately and inch. I have a pair of size 13 shoes, hope they will work next time without missing the target.
Saddam killed 10000 of people and was hanged for cruelty on humans, GW.Bushy killed millions, when he will be brought to justice like saddam? He sent Collins Powell with fake WMD vial to force war on Iraq and neither He had guts to come to the damn american media with an appology after three years of UN insepctions reveiled nothing, nor the US corrupt media had the guts to ask these croonies and Nazis about their unwarranted actions. Atleast this journalist had the courage for a free speech. Shame on GWB, his croonies and US media for supporting such war mongering rehtorics without any heart.
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