Shoe tosser a journalist who had been kidnapped, beaten while reporting in Iraq.

[uppityperson]

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSRYA67238820071118

n Iraqi television journalist was kidnapped on Friday after leaving his home in Baghdad, Iraq's Journalistic Freedoms Observatory said.

Muntazer al-Zaidi, a correspondent for al-Baghdadiya television station, disappeared after leaving his home in a busy area of central Baghdad, the non-governmental organization said in a statement.

Zaidi's family said they had called his mobile phone in the afternoon, and confirmed he had been abducted, the group said. But his family did not receive any specific demands for his release. Zaidi is 26-years-old, it added.

"The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory asks Zaidi's kidnappers once more for his swift release for humanitarian reasons," the group said in a statement....(more)

His release:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19159708.htm

Nov 19 (Reuters) - An Iraqi TV journalist who was kidnapped last week in a busy Baghdad neighbourhood said he was released unharmed before dawn on Monday.

Muntazer al-Zaidi, a correspondent for the independent al- Baghdadiya television station, said he spent more than two days blindfolded, barely eating and drinking, after armed men forced him into a car as he walked to work on Friday morning in the bustling Bab al-Sharji area of central Baghdad.

"My release is a miracle. I couldn't believe I was still alive," Zaidi, 28, told Reuters by telephone.

Zaidi said the kidnappers had beaten him until he lost consciousness. They used his necktie to blindfold him and bound his hands with his shoelaces...(more)

[happychatter]

1. kicked for consideration

good find

[uppityperson]

2. Thank you. I admire his restraint. I would have difficulty restraining myself to

shoes.

[Bucky]

3. This is important

The level of suffering the Iraqis have gone thru because Bush's buddies wanted their oil is really beyond our comprehension. The scars run deep. Uncountable thousands, tens or hundreds of thousands, are dead because Bush is an irresponsible fuck up who wanted a war to ensure his own reelection.

A shoe is not what the president deserved.

[uppityperson]

4. one more story to give us a bit more look into the people directly affected.

my heart breaks.

[Danger Mouse]

5. Who kidnapped him? Our people? The terrorists?

[uppityperson]

6. He says he never found out. It's in the reuters link, unknown.

I don't think it matters to him, but that the incident happened at all.

[ddeclue]

7. Whatchawannabet he's gonna get kidnapped and beaten again...

:eyes:

[IndianaGreen]

8. Zaidi has tasted American freedom and democracy

which as we all know by now it is neither free nor democratic.

[BrklynLiberal]

9. I would think he weighed all the possibilites and consequences of his action before he decided to do

it. I guess he felt it was something that had to be done.
I am somewhat sorry that all the journalists in the room did not stand up and join him by throwing their shoes as well.

[riqster]

14. He knew it was his last and only chance to make that statement

Bush was in no danger of any injury, of course. This was a form of speech in my view.

[BrklynLiberal]

15. I agree.

[specimenfred1984]

10. But TV land assured me he was "properly vetted"

I guess kidnapping and torture are just common occurrences in "Eyerack".

[nc4bo]

17. I want to know why M$M does not discuss the story behind the shoe..

of course that would mean their audience would actually have enough information to be able to understand what pushed this man do what he did.

M$M would actually have to peel off a few layers of onionskins to reveal the rotten core, wouldn't it?

[ColbertWatcher]

11. Kick and rec for truth! n/t

[ColbertWatcher]

16. Kick. n/t

[saltpoint]

12. "... and bound his hands with his shoelaces."

There's the money shot in this story, IMO.

[WillyT]

13. Big K & R !!!

:kick: