Brother Explains Shoe-Tossing Iraqi Journalist’s Anger

[babylonsister]

December 15, 2008, 8:29 am
Brother Explains Shoe-Tossing Iraqi Journalist’s Anger
By Riyadh Muhammad


In Sadr City, Maythem al-Zaidi stands before a photograph of his brother Muntader al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush. (Photo: Johan Spanner for The New York Times)


BAGHDAD — The brother of Muntader al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush during a joint press conference on Sunday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said Monday that he was “proud of his brother — as all Iraqis would be.”

Muntader al-Zaidi remains in Iraqi custody. When his brother, Maythem al-Zaidi, 28, called his cell phone at midnight, a man claiming to be one of the prime minister’s bodyguards answered. Maythem al-Zaidi said that the bodyguard threatened, “that they will get us all.”

Hitting someone with a shoe is a particularly strong rebuke in Iraqi culture. Although the president was uninjured, the incident overshadowed media coverage of the trip in the Arab world. And it has transformed Muntader al-Zaidi into a symbolic figure in the debate about the American military’s presence in Iraq.

Maythem al-Zaidi said his brother had not planned to throw his shoes prior to Sunday. “He was provoked when Mr. Bush said {during the news conference} this is his farewell gift to the Iraqi people,” he said. A colleague of Muntader al-Zaidi’s at al-Baghdadiya satellite channel, however, said the correspondent had been “planning for this from a long time. He told me that his dream is to hit Bush with shoes,” said the man, who would not give his name.

Muntader al-Zaidi appears to have a long-standing dislike of the United States presence in Iraq. He used to finish his reports by saying he was in “the occupied Baghdad.” His brother said that he hates the occupation so strongly that he canceled his wedding, saying: “I will marry when the occupation is over.”

more...

http://baghdadbureau.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/brother-is-proud-of-shoe-tossing-iraqi-journalist/

[ananda]

1. Muntader is a hero but..

.. I wonder if he will ever see the light
of day again.

Sigh.

[Voice for Peace]

5. yes, let's hope he doesn't become a martyr.

an amazing if reckless act of passionate courage and honesty

[gratuitous]

2. Martha Raddatz of ABC interviewed Chimpy

Chimpy professed not to know what Mr. Al-Zaidi's "beef" with him was. The tone Bush used suggested to me that Bush couldn't grasp that anyone would have a "beef" with him; he's been a blameless and ephemeral angel in the White House, bestowing nothing but benificence and goodness on the world.

I'm only sorry I don't own any track or golf shoes. Because I sure wouldn't tip off my intended target with a shout. I might say something after I hit the mark, though.

[sinkingfeeling]

9. And he smirked like the true dumbass he is.

[AndyA]

11. This just shows how sick Bush truly is.

Either he's very stupid, and is not able to comprehend what he's done, or he's being told by his handlers that he's a very brave man, with a vision unlike that of any other man on Earth.

It reminds me of the Iraqi spokesman who went on television telling the Iraqi people that Baghdad wasn't being invaded, when the evidence that it was being invaded was overwhelming. Deny, deny, deny. Smirk will deny his actions as long as he can.

I really don't know if he has a serious mental problem, addiction problem, or if he's really just flat out stupid. I do know that he's a small man, with no compassion for others. That is quite obvious from his actions over the last 8 years.

I hope he knows no peace from this day forward. He must pay for his sins and evil deeds.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[Feron]

12. Oh hell no.

While getting shoes throw at him was funny, I don't want Bush dead.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. The man ws fully justified, a hero. Braver than I might be in the same situation.

It is so typical of prez shit-for-brains to not have any idea what "the beef" was.
YOU SCHMUCK!!! YOU INVADED HIS COUNTRY FOR NO REASON AND MILLIONS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN ARE DEAD!!!
THE ECONOMY AND HISTORY OF HIS HOMELAND WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!!!

[Stuart G]

6. This has started and will not stop till Jan 20th.....nt.

[leftchick]

7. asshat said he just wanted to be on tv

I wonder if he really is that stupid?

[Hidden Stillness]

8. A Serious Meaning Behind This Fun Incident

All the happiness and cheering about this should not be taken as an endorsement of violence or humiliating others. This is a brutal, woman-oppressing culture, where very few care that animals are abused and treated with contempt, (note that "dog" is only considered an insult). This incident, though, was so brave, so long in coming, so richly deserved after all of the brutal, lawless, contemptuous cruelty of the Bush-Cheney Admin.--which just laughs at victims, then re-tells the story so that it is lost and forgotten--that this incident will become like David throwing a rock at big, threatening Goliath, and considered a turning-point. Just consider this one line from the OP/article: "He told me that his dream is to hit Bush with shoes." How can you not feel some joy at that? Bush provoked it with that outrageous claim of giving a "gift" to the Iraqi people (or anyone else), and somebody, at long last, let Bush have it.

[Tatiana]

10. Is he going to be classified as an "enemy combatant" now?

What a mess.

[JackRiddler]

13. "Orientalism" can't hide the power of a universal gesture.

Orientalism is one name for the social process by which we turn people like us into mysterious others. Example:

"Hitting someone with a shoe is a particularly strong rebuke in Iraqi culture."

In Western culture, throwing a shoe in fastball fashion right at someone's head is a mild form of praise.

"Although the president was uninjured, the incident overshadowed media coverage of the trip in the Arab world."

Yeah, whereas it's barely noted in the US media coverage of the trip. :eyes: (As though there would have been very much coverage otherwise!)

"Muntader al-Zaidi appears to have a long-standing dislike of the United States presence in Iraq."

Let's diagnose this. Analyze his dreams. Where does this "dislike" of the foreign aggressors who destroyed his country and murdered his people come from?