Yeah, IÂ’ll post about it.

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush in a supreme insult has suddenly become the talk of Iraq, hailed by marchers as a national hero but blasted by the government as a barbarian.

* * *

Zaidi shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," at Bush in a news conference he held with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a farewell visit to Baghdad on Sunday.

The journalist then flung one shoe at Bush, forcing him to duck, followed by another, which sailed over Bush's head and slammed into the wall behind him. Throwing shoes at someone is the worst possible insult in the Arab world.

Zaidi was dragged struggling and screaming from the room by security guards and could be heard shouting outside while the news conference continued after momentary mayhem.

Now apparently the Iraqi government is charging him with crimes against the Iraqi state. I think this is the wrong move for them to make, for it turns him into a political prisoner. Rather, he should be charged with assault – for after all, this piss-ant is nothing more than a common criminal.

His employer is demanding he be released, claiming that his actions are merely free speech. They are wrong – his actions were assault (assault and battery, actually, as I understand that one individual may have been struck by one of the shoes). He isn’t being punished for his words – he ought to be punished for his actions.

The Insane Left is, of course, all in a tizzy over the incident, proving their fundamental moral and mental inferiority to even single-cell life forms. Consider a few of the comments documented by the folks at NewsBusters:

Here is a sampling of the the reaction from the Daily Kos:

Is the Iraqi reporter eligible for a Pulitzer?

• What will happen to this reporter? Do we need to send money for his representation in court or is he dead already? My concern is for this guy. I understand that Dana Perino got a black eye from a microfone in the melee. I'm sorry but retribution is sweet! If we could help this shoeless person I would.
  
• We can throw 9000+ combat boots at him as he waddles to Marine 1 for the last time.
  
• Michael Ware Was Grinning From Ear to Ear! Iraq journalist Michael Ware was shown on CNN telling Blitzer about the shoe throwing incident. He was positively gleeful.
  

And it wouldn't surprise me if quite a few other American journalists, whether based in Iraq or not, were also grinning from ear to ear in solidarity with the Kossacks over this incident. Meanwhile the Huffington Post comments were very similar to those of the Daily Kos:

• All I can hope for is that bubble boy takes a real good look at what he has wrought. He should rot.
  
• Find out who it was the guy deserves a medal of honor.
  you go iraqi guy! wooohooo! we should all be chuckin our shoes at him! lmao!!!! the shoebomber! lmao!!!
  
• I would love to throw something at Bush.. not a shoe though.. maybe a brick.. or cinder block.
  
• Give that man who threw his shoes at the shrub an award...or better yet a statue built in his own likeness.
  
• Shall we say thank you Al-Jazeera?
  
• The next time you see Bush's motorcade rush by, don't let anyone keep you from giving him your shoe, too...
  
• does anybody know the name and address of the man who threw the shoe? I'd like to buy him a new pair and throwing lessons.
  

And finally, last but least, we have the input from the loons at the Democratic Underground:

• F---ing shame he missed.
  
• Too bad Shrub didn't get his teeth knocked out, that guys a true hero!
  
• *sigh* why can't anyone ever hit their targets? is it asking too much too see Bush hit in the face with a shoe, or Coulter with a pie, or Rove with flaming poo?
  
• I soooooo wish I could throw something at the idiot too.
  

Now I wonder if these folks will be so receptive to the first time “. . . a shoe, or. . . a pie, or. . . a bag of flaming poo” is thrown at Barack Obama? Or will these same morons apply a different standard to their new god (whose tin idol is already tarnished by the Blagojevich connection), demanding harsh treatment of the offender?

By the way, the idiot KOSsack who asked if Zaidi was already dead ought to consider something – if this were the Iraq that existed prior to the US liberation of that country, his actions would have earned him and his entire family prison and probably death by some barbaric methodology. If this were the Iraq that the Left’s beloved terrorists want, Zaidi would already have been decapitated for his crime. For that matter, what would have happened anywhere in the rest of the Arab/Muslim world if he had tried that with one of their leaders? The question answers itself. Instead, this semi-talented journalistic hack will be something of a hero to a certain segment of the Iraqi populace, while being excoriated by others – and he may face a short time in jail or a fine for his clearly inappropriate action.

After all, there are limits to freedom of expression – and Zaidi needs to learn that it ends where assault begins.

By the way, I have to agree with this point by Talking Points MemoÂ’s Josh Marshall:

But watching the video of the Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at President Bush, I could not help but notice that it took an uncomfortably long period of time for anyone to get to the assailant and, even more, much longer than I would have expected for anyone who looked like Secret Service to get to the president and block his body or get him out of harm's way.

I guess the point here is that this was a very confined space. Presumably the Secret Service controlled access to the degree that they were confident there were no unauthorized weapons in the room. And they wouldn't have to worry about someone with a gun at a greater distance. So they may have been less worried about jumping in front of the president, etc.

Maybe I'm just over-analyzing this. And obviously a president can't be under lock and key at all moments, with Secret Service agents ready to throw him to the floor at a moment's notice. But for an American president, any moment in Iraq has to be considered a very high risk situation. So it did make me wonder.

That was, in fact, my first reaction to the incident.

UPDATE: Here's the best reaction I've seen from an Iraqi:

“I spent five years in Saddam’s jails,” said Saman Qadir, a 51-year-old mechanic. “This journalist has to throw flowers on Bush, not a shoe, because Bush saved the Iraqi people from a bloody regime. Malaki has to raise a case against this journalist.”

But then again, for some it all comes down to the shop-worn "Bush=Hitler" meme.

Posted by: Greg at 01:03 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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