Had he thrown his shoes at the former leader, he would have been dead before he left the building, his wife mother and sisters systematically raped before lunch and his children impaled by dinner. The rest of the extended family simply disappeared before breakfast the next day. No one would have complained.Iraq faced mounting calls on Monday to release the journalist who hurled his shoes at George W. Bush, an action branded shameful by the government but hailed by many in the Arab world as an ideal parting gift to the unpopular US president.Colleagues of Muntazer al-Zaidi, who works for independent Iraqi television station Al-Baghdadia, said he "detested America" and had been plotting such an attack for months against the man who ordered the invasion of his country.
"Throwing the shoes at Bush was the best goodbye kiss ever... it expresses how Iraqis and other Arabs hate Bush," wrote Musa Barhoumeh, editor of Jordan's independent Al-Gahd Arabic newspaper.
Hundreds of Iraqis joined anti-US demonstrations to protest at Bush's farewell visit on Sunday to Iraq, which was plunged into a deadly insurgency and near civil war in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion.
The Iraqi government however branded Zaidi's actions as "shameful" and demanded an apology from his Cairo-based employer, which in turn was calling for his immediate release from custody.
Zaidi jumped up as Bush was holding a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Sunday, shouted "It is the farewell kiss, you dog" and threw two shoes at the US leader.
The shoes missed after Bush ducked and Zaidi was immediately wrestled to the ground by security guards and frogmarched from the room.
It is not known where Zaidi is currently being held.
Bush's reaction ? "All I can say is that it was a size 10"
Anyone wonder why we are hated?
Some humans are simply not wired correctly. They're born ok, but during education someone swaps around the connections.
16 comments:
Yes, and can you blame them?
I saw the video last night, and I have to say that George Bush has exceptional reflexes and great style to boot.
If you watch, you'll be able to see the attacker obviously practiced throwing his shoes for months beforehand in order to develop his speed and accuracy.
In the moments following the attack, Bush remains completely cool and even manages to give the impression that he is actually enjoying the change in routine.
Notice that nobody actually tells him anything about the shoes that were thrown, and that his point about shoe size is to say that not only did he see the projectile coming the whole way and have the presence of mind to dodge it, but that he also had time to READ the shoe size as it was in flight. Amazing.
Listen to the attacker screaming to his deranged deity in the background like some pathetic toddler who won't allow you remove his soiled diaper without a big fight.
Score: George Bush - 2 ------ Shoe Bitch - 0
George Bush, at 62 years of age, has the reflexes and muscular coordination of an athlete.
Amazing.
And, the grace under pressure of Roger Moore's James Bond.
It really was funny. The Arab world may want to count this as a victory, but truth is, Bush punk'd 'em.
Pastorius, I am sorry to have to say this, but you certainly have a Pollyanna view of your worst president in living memory. Bush has been a disaster for the Americans, a disaster for the Europeans, and a disaster for the Iraqis, too.
Bush should have casually stepped off the podium and gone down there and put a medium size ass whippin' on that clown....that would stir up a buzz in the muz world.
Mark,
I was commenting on this one incident, not on his whole Presidency.
:)
$600 billion and all he got was a lousy size ten
He surely does have great reflexes and with "security" that allows this sort of thing to happen, he needs 'em.
Wonder what the reaction will be first time somebody lobs a pie at Obambi...
RRA,
The Secret Service was clearly asleep on the job here. For God's sake, the guy threw two shoes. Two.
Hopefully, there are some heads rolling in that fucking organization.
Yes, the secret service is the real story
And Mark, why do YOU think Bush sucked?
I have a feeling that in here, people might think he sucks for a lot of uncommon reasons
Thank God for that, Pastorius. You got me worried for a moment! ;-)
Epaminondas said: And Mark, why do YOU think Bush sucked?
Have you got all day to spare? ;-)
But seriously, there are so many reasons. Far too many for me to give them justice here (especially with Christmas so close and so many things to do). But here are a few reasons:
1. He's made a dog's dinner of everything: The world economy, nay capitalism, has been just about destroyed on his watch.
2. He has got the US into trillions and trillions of dollars in debt, especially because of his determination to wage silly wars, the objectives of which could never be achieved.
3. He is inarticulate, which is not what one would expect from a president.
4. He's a cowboy by nature. That means to say he is bereft of all sophistication. Again, not what I would expect from the man leading the free world. It is also one of the main reasons why he was disliked by Europeans.
5. His facial gestures get on my nerves: They give him the air of a clown.
6. He should never have tried to bring democracy to an Islamic country such as Iraq. But he would not listen and learn. Like many at the top, he knew better. But he screwed up.
7. He insisted on the twaddle that Islam is a religion of peace and love. Crap! Sheer unadulterated crap! But he didn't want to be confused by the facts.
I could go on and on and on, but this will suffice for a busy day before Christmas. By the way, these points have not been enumerated in order of importance, but merely in the order they came to my mind.
Mark, some of your hatred of Bush is just silly.
His facial gestures? Inarticulate? Bereft of sophistication? Screw what the Euro-weenies think. Cowboy?
Come on, disagree on policy, not on superficial crap.
The US president is not in charge of the US economy and certainly not the world's economy (capitalism 'runs' the US economy) or the spending (the House of Rep. spends US money.)
The twaddle of the rop is to make it palatable to the hearers. The man is not an idiot (fighter pilot, Harvard, Yale, better grades than Jn Kerry.) The POTUS cannot talk as we talk on IBA, he has to measure his words for effect and they are thus restrained.
We may not win the war in Iraq, but fewer soldiers are dying in Iraq than US citizens in Chicago. It sounds like a win to me. Iraq will probably never be free like the US but they will have the opportunity to make a turn in that direction.
Please come back and go on and on w/some valid points. I can think of policies where I disagree w/Bush.
Obama will be all the Euro-weenies want us to be. Suave, debonair, sophisticated. He won't call islam what you want him to either. He'll still be in Iraq and Afghanistan too. Until we run out of money under his watch.
I thought so Mark.
The debt has nothing to do with Bush as an absolute.
I'm GLAD he is a cowboy.
Those who are the ACHIEVERS in this world are almost ALWAYS those who have been too stupid to know what was impossible.
on #7 we agree COMPLETELY, and THAT undid him in the second term.
He's more articulate than you imagine, but I have a feeling it is a colloquial thing and thus lost to others.
His facial ticks?
That leaves out Lincoln, at the very least.
Samenokami & Epaminondas:
The man leaves me cold! By the way, you should know that I was once a BIG fan of his.
I was asked why I disliked him. I gave you SOME reasons which quickly came to mind. They were by far not ALL the reasons. They were simply a cross-section of the things which sprang to mind.
You might want a baseball cap-wearing, track-shoe-wearing guy who cannot string a good sentence together leading you; but I DO NOT! Give me the sophisticat every time.
Anyway, ticks or nature of the cowboy, it is all irrelevant. The man has screwed up – BIG time. And his record shows it to be so. No sweet words will butter those parsnips.
Style and class apparently mean nothing to the modern day American. It's a pity. The world is all the poorer for it.
Yes, Obama is a cool cat when it comes to sartorial sophistication. We will have to wait and see what his policies will be like. I hold out very little hope.
"Style and class apparently mean nothing to the modern day American."
Indeed
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