He will always be a hero to me.
"Tables turned on Iraqi shoe thrower" by Associated Press | December 2, 2009
PARIS - The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush in Baghdad last year had a taste of his own medicine yesterday when he nearly got beaned by a shoe thrower at a news conference in Paris.
Yeah, too bad Bush didn't get a taste of his own medicine and got what this guy did: tortured.
Muntadhar al-Zeidi ducked and the shoe hit the wall behind him....
Related: Occupation Iraq: All Hail the Hero!
The identity of the new shoe-thrower - and his motivation - were not clear, but he appeared to be an Iraqi. It was not known if the intruder was a journalist or just pretended to be one to attend the news conference at a center for foreign reporters. Whatever his motive, the confrontation did not stop there.
Zeidi’s brother, Maithan, chased the attacker in the audience and - what else? - pelted him with a shoe as he left the room. Muntadhar al-Zeidi, a TV reporter, became a hero to many opponents of the Iraq war when he hurled his shoes at Bush during a news conference in Baghdad in December 2008 while shouting: “This is from the widows, the orphans, and those who were killed in Iraq.’’ Zeidi was quickly wrestled to the ground by security guards, then imprisoned for nine months before being released in September....
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"Election law dispute could postpone Iraq’s elections; Effect of delay on US troops plan is unclear" by Sameer N. Yacoub, Associated Press | December 3, 2009
BAGHDAD - Iraq’s January elections may be postponed by more than a month because of a dispute over an election law, officials said yesterday, a delay that could threaten the planned US withdrawal of combat troops....
I never believed we were coming out. How convenient, huh?
It is unclear what a long delay would mean for the United States, which is scheduled to end combat missions in August.... A preliminary proposal from various political factions calls for moving the election to Feb. 27, but it also could be pushed to March 1.
*******************For now, the top US commander in Iraq has said the pullout remains on schedule....
You know, for a country in crisis with a recent surge in violence in daily attacks, the Boston Globe has been sorely lacking when it comes to the violence.
Though violence in Iraq has declined dramatically in recent years, Iraqi and US military officials have expressed concern that a delay in the election could destabilize hard-won security gains.
Do you believe them anymore?
I do not; they have lied about Iraq from the start.
Yesterday, an American airstrike in northeast Iraq killed one gunman after a joint US-Iraqi foot patrol was attacked.
You know, it is SO RARE that you hear ANYTHING of what the U.S. is doing there!!!
The airstrike was called in after five gunmen attacked the patrol as it was searching a building in the town of Sadiyah in the volatile Diyala province, the US military said in a statement. But a police official said the gunmen opened fire on the soldiers, believing they were insurgents. A year earlier, the same house was attacked by insurgents, the official said.
Oh, so we have a case of FRIENDLY FIRE here, huh?
The police official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. Sadiyah is 60 miles northeast of Baghdad. Elsewhere, gunmen attacked a popular cafe in western Baghdad, killing one and wounding three, an Iraqi police official said. Gunmen also attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing one solider and wounding another, said another police official.
But violence is down and we are leaving.
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And who are those "gunmen," 'eh?
