Judge Meets Shoe-Thrower in Jail, Possibly Too Badly Beaten to Appear

[tekisui]

(snip)

Dargham al-Zaidi said he was told a judge had been to see his younger brother, Muntazer, at the jail where he has been held since throwing his shoes at the US president during a press conference in Baghdad on Sunday. The TV reporter – whose actions have made him a star in the Arab world – called Bush a "dog" and said he was angry at the US occupation of his country.

Dargham told the Associated Press he believed the private visit might have been arranged as his brother had been beaten up "and they fear that his appearance could trigger anger at the court".

According to Dargham, the 29-year-old reporter suffered a broken arm and ribs, as well as injuries to an eye and a leg after being badly beaten by security officials, and was treated at the Ibn Sina hospital, in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. Dargham said he did not know whether the injuries happened when Muntazer was being overpowered at the press conference or later.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/17/george-bush-shoe-throw
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What a mess. No one knows his condition or what punishment he will receive. Already, the Iraqi Speaker of the Parliament has resigned. This is still snow-balling.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. If they are smart

they will let him go, and even pay for his hospital stay if he needs one. If al Maliki tries to prosecute, he may find his coalition collapsing as the politicians listen to the voice of the people.

[tekisui]

3. The Parliament is divided.

Some are with the people, some want to avenge the insult. If they do try him and lock him up for years, or never produce him to the public, you are right, it could destabilize the coalition.

[RoadRage]

2. Why?

Most of his country, and 1/2 of THIS country thinks this guy is a hero of some sort... why in the world would they beat him up?

I know the reason.. it just makes me sick. Frankly crap like this only reinforces the rights thought process that we "done good" by going in there.. because many really do not have any voice.

What a friggin' nightmare.

[GodlessBiker]

4. They never think ahead. They should have just released the guy and treated him as nothing...

instead, they beat him up and turned him into a cause. Idiocy.

[tekisui]

6. And, when they lock him up or worse, the cause will grow.

Sheer stupidity. Just when you thought chimpy's Iraq damage was done, he had to go in for a fucking victory lap and whip the country into a frenzy again.

[wtmusic]

13. Exactly. And W should be the one to demand his release.

Crazy me. Why would he get smart now?

[glitch]

23. I am sure they are being pressured by irrational people -- bushbots seeking face

And their decisions are based on petty emotions like fear and greed and revenge. They could care less about destabilizing the country, there's more money to be made that way anyway.

[lunatica]

5. Having arrived at the 'hero' status he could easily become a 'martyr'

if he's killed. I'm sure this makes all those legislators very very nervous. Bush has messed with some seriously dangerous customs which he hasn't got a clue about.

[malaise]

7. I read that the speaker has threatened to resign this morning

over this.

[tekisui]

8. I saw that. What wasn't clear was which side he is on.

I am not sure whether he was favoring his release, or his punishment. The article only said the the Parliament was in a state of chaos.

[malaise]

10. Well Chaos

is part of the Bush Doctrine so things are going swimmingly.

[tekisui]

9. Here is a little more info on that. He is a Sunni, probably favoring release.

Al-Mashhadani, a member of the minority Sunni faction, has previously threatened to resign and has been suspended for embarrassing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki with erratic behavior.

About 1,500 demonstrators took to the streets Wednesday in the Baghdad Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah to demand his release. Ironically, al-Zeidi was kidnapped in the same neighborhood last year and was freed unharmed a few days later.

"This is a natural reaction to the American acts of tyranny and occupation in Iraq," said demonstrator Khalil al-Obeidi a resident of Azamiyah said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jNRHUv3d5re4SrbIqzQ6xGu5aDmgD954GEI01

[Buzz Clik]

11. This is Iraq, kids. Let it go.

It's none of our fucking business.

You want to walk away from Iraq and let nature take its course? Well, this is nature taking its course.

[no limit]

15. We fucked it all up for them and now we should just let them deal with it?

Don't get me wrong, I support getting out of there as fast as possible. But that doesn't make anythign right. There is nothing natural about what is taking place there, we created this mess and now leaving it for the Iraqi people to clean up.

[Buzz Clik]

19. We didn't create the mindset that prisoners should be beaten prior to and during questioning.

We cannot change the culture.

[no limit]

21. I don't disagree with that. But what we created was the instability that lead to this

no doubt that prisoners got beaten before we invaded and they will be beaten now. But you are saying that we should just let nature take it's course by pulling out of there, that makes it seem as if all of this is natural. Yet, there is nothing natural about any of this, we created the situation they are in and now they will have to pay for it.

[Buzz Clik]

22. I don't disagree with what you're saying about us creating the mess.

However, I don't know how long we have to "own" that mess. We have to leave sometime.

My point in my original response was directed more to those who feel that we should have all troops home by January 21, 2009. If you support an immediate removal of all things American, then we can't sweat the small stuff like Iraqi interrogation techniques. I do feel, however, that we owe them much in terms of the infrastructure we destroyed.

[GodlessBiker]

17. That assumes we had no say in how he was treated following the incident.

[Buzz Clik]

20. True enough.

[lpbk2713]

12. They're probably keeping him in isolation so no pics will leak out to the media.

The Iraqi gummint is acting on advice from BushCo, no doubt.

And BushCo knows all about this from Abu Ghreb and Gitmo.

[ananda]

14. Zaidi is turning into a holy martyr and symbol.

Iraq really screwed up on this one.

[marshall]

16. I wonder if he was beaten with shoes?

Perhaps he can go on national tv and sport his black eye.

[opihimoimoi]

18. I have to suspect Bushie had something to do with the punishment