In a bizarre moment, President George Bushes surprise visit to the Green Zone was met with an even more surprising shoe attack from an Iraqi journalist, TV reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi . As shown on this video, the President proved pretty nimble in dodging the shoes (dodging congressional subpoenas may have been good training).
The reporter yelled “This is a gift from the Iraqis. This is the farewell kiss, you dog.” And Bush thought MSNBC was a rough forum. Al-Zaidi is now being hailed as a hero by Iraqis.
The reporter threw both shoes and almost hit Bush who proved he was no loafer or loafee. After the attack, Bush remarked: “That was a size 10 shoe he threw at me, you may want to know.” To his credit, Bush waved off the Secret Service to avoid a nasty confrontation. Al-Zaidi remains in detention, however, accused by the Iraqi government of a “barbaric act.”
What Al-Zaidi needs to understand is that shoes can be put to a better use at soles4souls. Indeed, he may want to claim that as a defense — his effort was to donate shoes to Americans in this economic crisis with little money (given Bush spending a billion dollars a day on the occupation).
The Justice Department prompted announced that all shoe salespeople would be rounded up and questioned as “material witnesses.” OK, I made that last part up. However, it does prove Bush correct when he has referred to terrorist elements as “soleless”
Aaron h:
Most of us can agree with some of your sentiments on humanitarian grounds, but your sweeping indictment calls to mind the words of Edmund Burke, “I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against an whole people.”
Jill, et al,
My choice of shoes for the picture postcard would be my old baseball spikes. I have to admit that I was impressed with Bush’s ducking ability, but less impressed with his reponse after the “attack”. He is a war criminal, plain and simple and the reporters words were only a mild rebuke to Bush. He should be wearing leg irons instead of ducking flying shoes.
Good god, OF COURSE Iraq and the world would be better off with Saddam still in power!!!
It’s so sickening that most of us are so uninformed and brainwashed, and that the corrupt fascist machine and it’s propaganda department brazenly masquerading as “a free press” continually drowns people in so many layers of lies, disinformation, misinformation, obfuscation and suppression of the truth that we’re defeated in arguments before they begin because we seem to be unable to break free of the untrue frames that they put the story in!
Dude (waynebro),
First of all you and others that talk about half a million or less dead Iraqis are understating it by more than half! Kucinich held a hearing of sorts, prior to ’06 so it was almost more of a press conference than a real hearing since no chair would call it, but he had a panel consisting of the Johns Hopkins team that performed the surveys as well as Juan Cole and others in which they laid out the methodology used for their figures and showed without a shadow of a doubt that it is the most reliable and respected method known, used by the UN, the US and all governments in all similar situations and always sited and quoted by governments and press in other war zones, and that it was even more precise the second time they did a study. They concluded over a million dead long ago! Not to mention 4 million refugees.
Second of all, in the face of that, whenever someone makes an argument that starts off talking about a few thousand dead Americans and how many wounded we have and how much money we’ve blown…. well, I’m sorry but that exhibits the very attitude, the very blindness, the very lack of humanity that allows these things to continually happen in the first place! When you allow and are complicit with with mindset that American lives are worth so much more than others, when you dehumanize “our” so called enemies to the point that, even if you thought it was “only” half a million of them dead, you find it appropriate to mention that only as an afterthought to what you position as your priority concern, how many deaths and injuries are incurred by the aggressor, the instigator, the invader, the occupier…. well, sir, you, and all who think that way, which seems to be almost all of us, are really enabling these things to happen. It is shameful.
Could you imagine a local news report about a situation where a man went on a rampage in your town and he beat to death a thousand people with his bare hands and the whole news report was only concerned with the bruises and damage done to the mans hands in the course of his slaughtering a thousand people? Please don’t just laugh at the absurdity of this, I want you to actually imagine it. What do you think would happen if that really happened and they devoted ten minutes to the story and they literally talked about the guys own injuries to the perpetrating hands themselves, they interviewed him and asked how badly he was hurt, they talked to the doctors to get his prognosis, they talked about how much his medical bills would be and who would pay them and then discussed his strategy in carrying out the attack, whether it worked well, whether he was smart in doing it etc., and they didn’t even mention the victims or maybe barely mentioned them and downplayed the numbers of them? Would that newscaster still have a job the next day? Well that’s how our press has performed on Iraq (not to mention Afghanistan, the forgotten abomination) and you’re essentially going along with it.
Now back to better or worse with Saddam in power. Without the latest war a country that had 25 million people would have more than a million more citizens alive and 4 or 5 million more not being displaced refugees living in garbage. They wouldn’t have ethnic cleansing and religious and ethnic factions split apart and at war with each other that had previously lived well together for a very long time. They would have electricity, water to drink, hospitals, intact schools, a functioning society in which they could go outside their houses without constant fear and danger of death, they would have jobs, they would have gas, they would have most of their friends and family alive, which almost none of them can say now as virtually everyone has been a victim in that regard. They would have a national museum intact housing the cultural history of the beginnings of civilization.
Ok, but the CIA was about to kill him you say, that would be ok with you? Why? What had he done to us? Was he oppressing and killing his own people? Well, first of all not even the worst and most far fetched accusations against him would amount to anywhere even in the ballpark of damage we’ve done in two invasions and the years of sanctions and bombings in between in terms of numbers of murders and overall damage to society. Furthermore, whatever terrible things he actually did and whatever terrible things he’s accused of now, which goes way beyond what he was blamed for or accused of when he was “our” “friend,” you must remember that he was in our employ, using our funding, our weapons and acting either at our behest or with our approval. WE fomented the war with Iran that left a million dead Iraqis and Iranians and we funded it on both sides, Kissinger saying he hoped they would all kill each other. The original “gassing of his own people” charge during the Iran/Iraq war, well the original figure thrown around in the press in order to demonize him to soften us for invading him the first time, was 5,000 people, but the CIA’s own website, at least up until 5 or 6 years ago if it’s not still there now, said that it was actually about 200 some people and that the gas used was actually gas that the Iranians had and Iraq did not, then when it was time to make him “the next Hitler” to help justify the second war, suddenly the gassed number was 50,000, then somehow up to 300,000!!!!! The so called “wmd’s” which were chemical weapons not nuclear, well we gave/sold him all that shit and it also had a known shelf life and was known to be expired long before we used that as one of the excuses for attacking him.
The fact is that prior to our meddling, under Saddam, Iraq was probably the most advanced, relatively free and most secular Arab society, the best schools, most equality and opportunity for women, best infrastructure etc. But we have completely destroyed it all by supporting or launching 3 wars and the crippling sanctions regime, intentionally destroying the potable water system and electrical grid and on and on and on. Another fact is, that if some other country had done even a tiny fraction of what we have done there, and we had some strategic or financial interest in attacking that country, then our government and our media would use any of thousands of the very things we ourselves have done and used whichever of those things they felt most useful in order to call that country the worst of the worst, the most evil, the new Nazi’s etc., and we all would jump on the bandwagon and call for bombing them into the stone age…. in other words by our own “logic” “morals” “principals” “beliefs” and patterns of behavior, WE OURSELVES SHOULD BE BOMBED INTO THE STONE AGE!!!!
So if he was an evil dictator oppressing, abusing and killing his own people then we shouldn’t have been supporting him and calling him “our friend” eh? And considering that we have consistently supported dictators, put them in power, funded them, armed them and used them for “our” own purposes such as suppressing their own people in order to provide slave or sweatshop labor for our corporations or to supply us with resources or other nefarious purposes, and in fact we currently support and call as friends and allies such oppressive dictatorships as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan among others, then how the fuck do we have the unmitigated and hypocritical gall to EVER use that as an excuse to go to war with anyone or even say a single fucking word daring to scold ANYONE about ANYTHING? We are a rogue nation, pure and simple. The emperor has no clothes, looks disgusting, and you can’t fucking see it! NO!, not just fucking Bush, he’s among the worst, but OUR WHOLE HISTORY!!!! WAKE THE FUCK UP AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!!
LindyLou,
I’m going for shitkickers too–an excellent choice!!! I hope that journalist is O.K.
rafflaw and waynebro,
This blog got hit right after I posted the last entry allowed under the cigarette entry. Of course that might be coincidence but I have to wonder. All the side bars were taken over with the same odd picture in each box and the names formerly there, erased. Fortunately, the correct names came back. No comments have been allowed since on that entry. You guys have experienced other strange things. ARGGG!
Jill,
“The executive summary also traces the erosion of detainee treatment standards to a Feb,. 7, 2002, memorandum signed by President George W. Bush stating that the Geneva Convention did not apply to the U.S. war with al Qaeda and that Taliban detainees were not entitled to prisoner of war status or legal protections.”
Sighhhhh. It’s war when they want to manipulate Congress and the People, but it’s not war when they have to follow the rules.
My picture postcard is now being changed to good ol’ Texas cowboy “shitkickers.”
That’s true Bob but it’s more than that it was a repressed country. Sometimes I think our whole country (not you)seems to have collective amnesia pre Iraq 2003 invasion.
Everytime I hear a reporter or republican look at someone who is questioning the Iraq war, snarl up their face and say “are you saying the world isn’t better off without Saddam” I want to scream.
It’s like no one seems to remember that we were ALL OVER SADDAMN right before the invasion of March 03. The CIA was on top of him and we were dropping bunker busters almost every day for a while there.
Remember those stories about how Saddam had to sleep in a different palace or house every night? Some nights he even had to move in the middle of the night! We were literally HOURS behind him!
The CIA said it was only a matter of months, maybe weeks, before we got him. Saddam couldn’t remain ANYWHERE for more than 24 hours, we were THAT close!
Yet everytime we turn around we hear from some brain dead newscaster over at Fox news “are you saying you’d rather see Saddam still in power?”.
That answer sickens me. It’s like we’re all supposed to be soooooo stupid that we can’t remember that we were about to take Saddam OUT of power, for the price of a few bunker busters (and the danger to the CIA agents who had such good intelligence going on back then that they had him on the run).
The CIA said unequivocaly that it wasn’t a matter of “IF” we get him, but “WHEN”. We had him. His reign was over. It was IN THE BAG.
So next time some dimwitted neoconservative warmonger idiot states “would you rather see Saddam back in power”, remind them that we were about to remove Saddam from power, thanks to the CIA.
But Bush couldn’t wait, so he squandered 4000 American lives (and counting), 20,000 amputees, half a million Iraqi lives, about a Trillion dollars of our own money and an UNTOLD amount of wealth in Iraqi treasure, including priceless artifacts and relics, like Jacob’s well, all because Bush wanted to look tough, and millions of Americans wanted to look tough with him.
The following is from Glenn Greenwald:
“Senate report links Bush to detainee homicides; media yawns
The bipartisan Senate Armed Services Committee report issued on Thursday — which documents that “former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other senior U.S. officials share much of the blame for detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba”
The executive summary also traces the erosion of detainee treatment standards to a Feb,. 7, 2002, memorandum signed by President George W. Bush stating that the Geneva Convention did not apply to the U.S. war with al Qaeda and that Taliban detainees were not entitled to prisoner of war status or legal protections.
“The president’s order closed off application of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which would have afforded minimum standards for humane treatment,” the summary said.
The policies which the Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously concludes were authorized by Bush, Rumsfeld and several other top Bush officials did not merely lead to “abuse” and humiliating treatment, but are directly — and unquestionably — responsible for numerous detainee murders. Many of those deaths caused by abusive treatment have been formally characterized as “homicides” by autopsies performed in Iraq and Afghanistan (see these chilling compilations of autopsy findings on detainees in U.S. custody, obtained by the ACLU, which reads like a classic and compelling exhibit in a war crimes trial).
While the bulk of the attention over detainee abuse has been directed to Guantanamo, the U.S., to this day, continues to imprison — with no charges — thousands of Iraqi citizens. In Iraq an Afghanistan, detainee deaths were rampant and, to this day, detainees continue to die under extremely suspicious circumstances. Just yesterday, there was yet another death of a very young Iraqi detainee whose death was attributed to quite unlikely natural causes.”
The journalist’s detainment is being protested by many.
JP: “You all joke, laugh, etc…However, the one thing YOU ALL dismiss is that this was an oppressed country at the outset. You all have no idea what oppression is as you are all spoiled baby boomer generation children.”
Phil Hartman as Frank Sinatra: “Boo hoo; ya had me then ya lost me. Billy Idol…”
By the way, there’s another interesting twist to this shoe toss story that no one else seems to be talking about so I might as well mention it.
It seems that Muntader al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush is being charged for “tossing his shoes near Prime Minister Maliki. NOT for tossing them at President Bush.
Just an interesting development I thought was worth mentioning.
mespo727272
1, December 15, 2008 at 4:58 pm
“Waynebro:
Too bad for cutey pie Dana. Once her looks goes what does she have? Great job experience?”
She doesn’t even have that. Remember we have her on camera performing her “job”.
Like when she didn’t know what the Cuban Missle Crisis was.
How she manages to act superior to the reporters (who actually know stuff) asking her questions is beyond me, so if there’s a job out there that requires an unmerited sense of superiority then it’s all hers. Other than that, I can’t see who’d want her for anything.
LindyLou,
I like the postcard idea–“These Boots are Made for Walking”…. BTW, did you hear about Jeff Gannon? I read about him somewhere!
Jill, I’ve heard people talking about just sending a postcard with a picture of shoes, and that would probably have a better chance of delivery by Christmas. It could be called operation “goodie, goodie two shoes”
I think I’m going to look for a picture some nice studded stilettos in honor of a certain legendary someone who was said to have security clearance to the top.
JP, if you bring up the subject of sex at the white house, somebody is going to bring up the subject of Jeff Gannon. It certainly won’t be me, but somebody is bound to do just that.
Here, Mr. Commander in chief, sir, what size are THESE?
Mespo, I remember right before the war, the CIA was all over Hussein. Remember? We were dropping bunker busters every other day on his palaces and houses. He couldn’t get a decent nights sleep. He had to move every single night ot a different place because as the CIA put it, “we had Saddam in a box”.
It was only a matter of time until one of our bunker busters landed on his head. Only a complete fool would waste thousands of American lives, hundreds of billions of dollars and about 10’s of thousands of wounded and amputees just to do what we were so close to doing already.
If we had just “stayed the course” then the CIA would have gotten Saddam, we’d have about a trillion dollars more in our federal budget, (to save our economy) and there’d be thousands and thousands of Americans who still had their arms, their legs and their lives. Not to mention about half a million Iraqi’s.
The invasion of Iraq was the most stupid, idiotic thing we could have ever conceived of after 911, and Bush is a fool.
Waynebro:
Too bad for cutey pie Dana. Once her looks goes what does she have? Great job experience?
jasmine:
Save your breath. JP is one of those tough guys who is always willing to lay down your freedom at the foot of some tyrant ’cause we’re in “war time” damn it. I truly enjoyed his dissertation on Commanders in Chiefs throughout history, though he completely missed my point that Bush is Commander in Chief ONLY over the army & navy. Or maybe JP bought that conservative koolade that, “in wartime,” we get a dictator. Sad that soldiers fighting for this Country have no idea what they’re fighting for, but some macho types just like shooting things. Maybe that’s why they want to “go back.” I like his line that “last time he checked,” Saddam was paying suicide bombers in other mid-East countries. Too bad he missed the memo the rest of us got that Saddam had no connections to fundamentalist terrorists and considered them a threat to his regime. Ignorance is truly bliss. Let him stay “happy” in his own maniacal way, and don’t trouble him with law, facts, or humorous occurrences.
You know I didn’t see anyone mention this but it seems Dana Perino got a black eye in the scuffle to subdue the shoe tossing reporter.
Seems someone accidentally shoved a microphone into her eye instead of her mouth.
Just got this e-mail. An excellent idea!
Let’s give beloved “George” a final act of admiration by sending him a shoe in the mail… If you think the past 8 years have been less than favorable, find a shoe and send it to the president at:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
@Jp
And I’m sorry, but what the heck does Bill Clinton and JFK have to do with this story?
Last time I cheacked in the history books, neither one of those presidents ever got attaked by a shoe.
LMAO!
Seems to me that the only reason why your bringing them up, is that you want to bring up something bad about past democratic admin.
To bad for you, they were NEVER hated the way Bush is hated.
And when they were in office they didn’t screw up.
When Clinotn was in office we had a Buget surpluse.
Bush on the other hand has gotten us in 10 trillion dollars in debt.
We went from being in peace, a good economy and loved by the world.
To bad economy, no peace anywhere and most of the world now hates us.
But anyways what point were you trying to make, again? 😉
@Jp!
what he Heck does chruch have to do with this post?
What is your problem?
Are you just upset that Bush screwed up and is hated by all?
Or is that your upset that it isn’t just “the liberals” who hate Bush its also people outside of America too?
Or is it just that Bush will gp down in History as not only the worst President in Our nations history but, the first president ever to get attaked overseas by a shoe Just weeks before he leaves office?
Lmfaooooo! 🙂
O jp, put a sock in it!!!!!!!
If we want to lagh at Bush then that’s exactly what were going to do.
Its a free country right?
Or did the Bush Admin. sell our freedom of speach along with everything else they sold to China?
Look, Its not our fault that Bush was a horrible president and people around the world hate him enough to throw a show at him.
LMAO!
He’s a lame duck
He has ran this country, into the ground have killed thousands of iraq’s and Americans in a war that should have NEVER been started in the first place.
And has gotten us in the worse economic crisis sence the Great Depression.
He is a discrace!
And I along with millions of Americans, I will be Glad, relived and happy to see his sorry butt walk out of office. Once and for all.
Don’t let the door hit him were the shoe should of kicked him.
LMAO!