Breaking News: Letter from Muntazar al-Zaidi Asks for Leniency

See updates --- "Al-Maliki Lets Al-Zaidi Dangle" and "Iraqi Judge Says Muntazar Al-Zaidi Beaten"

CNN reports that Muntazar al-Zaidi has written to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to ask leniency for "the great ugly act I perpetrated" in throwing his shoes at President George Bush. According to the press spokesman for al-Maliki, al-Zaidi asked for the Prime Minister's "fatherly compassion".

According to al-Zaidi's brother, the case will come to trial next week.

*TRAGIC COMIC FOOTNOTE: Living up to its journalistic high standards, Fox News headlines the story, "Shoe-Tosser's Sole-Ful Apology".

Meanwhile in Iraq: Showdown for the al-Maliki Government?

The New York Times reports:

Up to 35 officials in the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior ranking as high as general have been arrested over the past three days with some of them accused of quietly working to reconstitute Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party.

Iraqi security officials asserted that those arrested were involved "in the early stages of a coup". Specificially, they were accused of affiliation with Al Awda, an alleged descendant of the Baath Party.

All this may be true but, assuming that all those arrested are Sunni, the Shi'a-led al-Maliki Government now faces a challenge that goes beyond plotters --- both political and military --- in its midst. Arrests in the past have sparked violence and reprisals throughout Iraq. Whether those reprisals occur again, and whether the Government can respond effectively to prevent sectarian conflict, will be a major test of the stability of the "new" Iraq.

Iraqi Shoe-Gate: US State Department Defends Muntazar Al-Zaidi?

From The Times of London this morning: "The State Department said that it would issue a condemnation if it were true that Mr al-Zaidi had been beaten up."

Let me help you out, guys, since you're obviously in an information black hole:

The guards of the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki were seen beating Mr Zaidi just after the incident and he was seen screaming in pain.

I look forward, as part of the American defense of freedom in Iraq, to that condemnation.

Breaking News on the Iraq Non-Story: British Troops to Withdraw

The BBC has just reported from Baghdad the confirmation of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that British troops will withdraw from Iraq in the first half of 2009.

This, of course, is as dramatic as predicting that the Sun will set in the west. You can expect declarations today--- because they are already being trailed in the British press --- that this is because Britain's "mission is complete" rather than that it will no longer have legal authority to operate in Iraq.

Iraq: Your Daily Shoe Update

I think it's safe to say that the star of the Bush Farewell Tour is Muntazar al-Zaidi --- sitting in a prison cell somewhere in Iraq --- rather than the President.

Both The New York Times and The Washington Post have Page 1 stories: "In Iraqi’s Shoe-Hurling Protest, Arabs Find a Hero" and "Flying Shoes Create a Hero In Arab World".

In Saudi Arabia, a newspaper reported that a man had offered $10 million to buy just one of what has almost certainly become the world’s most famous pair of black dress shoes.

A daughter of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, reportedly awarded the shoe thrower, Muntader al-Zaidi, a 29-year-old journalist, a medal of courage.

In the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, people calling for an immediate American withdrawal removed their footwear and placed the shoes and sandals at the end of long poles, waving them high in the air. And in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, people threw their shoes at a passing American convoy.

When he threw the first shoe, Mr Al-Zaidi cried, "This is a goodbye kiss, you dog." It's when the other shoe was thrown, however, that Mr Al-Zaidi delivered his political punchline, “This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!” McClatchy News Service reported that al-Zaidi was shaken by the destruction he found when covering the military operations in April as Iraqi Government troops, supported by US forces and bombardments, took control of Sadr City in Baghdad.

 It's doubtful that Mr al-Zaidi is aware of his status, as he remains in detention. Associated Press is reporting that he has been handed over to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's security guards. He faces up to seven years in prison for "insulting the nation's leader".

Thousands of Iraqis marched on Monday to demand al-Zaidi's release, a call joined by tribal chiefs around the country and by journalist organisations inside and outside Iraq.

(hat tip to Informed Comment)