Shoe-throwing JournalistMy New Hero
Portion below; whole article here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1151ap_bush_notebook.html
The shoe attack came as Bush and al-Maliki were about to shake hands. The assailant - later identified as television correspondent Muntadar al-Zeidi - leapt from his chair and hurled his footwear at the president, who was about 20 feet away.
"This is a farewell kiss, you dog," he yelled in Arabic.
The crowd descended on al-Zeidi, who works for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt. He was wrestled to the ground by security officials and then hauled away, moaning as they departed the room. Later, a trail of fresh blood could be seen on the carpet, although the source was not known.
In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt. When U.S. Marines toppled Saddam Hussein's statue on Firdos Square in 2003, the assembled crowd whacked it with their shoes
Al-Baghdadia's Baghdad manager told the AP he had no idea what prompted his reporter to go on the attack.
"I am trying to reach Muntadar since the incident, but in vain," said Fityan Mohammed. "His phone is switched off."
The station issued a statement on the air Sunday night asking the Iraqi government to release al-Zeidi "to spare his life."
"The station calls on journalists all over the world to express their solidarity for the release of al-Zeidi," it said.
2 comments:
Yes, throw a shoe at the man who freed your country from a murderous dictator. I can only imagine how much of a hero the guy who Saddam patterned himself after, Adolph, would be had we stepped in earlier and stopped his rampage across the world.
I usually don't let anonymous comments on -- but sometimes it's good to remind folks how stupid some people are.
Anonymous, you need to look at some other news sources, ones that might show the lives of Iraqis now compared to their lives under Saddam.
Or you can continue in your ignorance is blissitude.
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