Monday, December 15, 2008

Where is Muntader al-Zaidi?

You didn't ask me, but where in the hell is Muntader al-Zaidi?

You remember him, don't you? He's the Iraqi TV journalist who hurled his shoes at George Bush and called him a dog during a press conference in Baghdad.


While Muntader al-Zaidi's act may be considered inhospitable in some quarters, it is quite understandable considering how deeply outraged the journalist was.
Hurling your shoes at someone is a major insult in Iraqi culture - signifying that the person being struck is as low as the dirt underneath the sole of a shoe.

I believe it was the least one could do to protest the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqis over the last 5 1/2 years.

But the real question now is - where is Muntader al-Zaidi?

The New York Times reported that 'security agents jumped on the man, wrestled him to the floor and hustled him out of the room. They kicked him and beat him until “he was crying like a woman,” said Mohammed Taher, a reporter for Afaq, a television station owned by the Dawa Party, which is led by Mr. Maliki. Mr. Zaidi was then detained on unspecified charges."


His family has not heard from him or about him since.


When asked about the incident, Mr Democracy Bush said “That’s what people do in a free society.”

He was saying this even as a room full of reporters could hear the screams of Zaidi as he was being beaten and kicked in the next room.

Dear Mr Bush - here's what people don't do in a free society - we do not engage in administrative detention nor do we engage in corporal punishment, beatings and torture.

People in real Democracies don't do that
Mr Bush. But you never did see anything wrong with Democracies using torture did you Mr Bush? Or holding people without charge.

Mr Bush - if you want to do something meaningful during the last days of your lame-duckery - get Mr Zaidi released!