Iraqi Shoe-Gate: The Tributes Roll in for George Bush

In Washington, Americans rally around the President:

They assembled a pile of clogs, boots, flip-flops, slippers and pumps, and, in celebration of the journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush in a news conference Sunday in Iraq, they tossed the footwear at a man wearing a papier-mâché Bush mask and a prison uniform....

The Bush figure dodged, weaved and taunted: "I can take it! I can take you all on!" But then somebody hit him in the crotch with a sandal, and he fell to his knees.

In Afghanistan, the citizens defend their US liberator:

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The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush is to be celebrated in an Afghan comedy show.

But in the satirical series, Zang-i-Khatar (Alert Bell), rather than duck the shoes Mr Bush will be hit squarely in the face.

One protester, however, still doesn't understand, preferring to follow the example of Muntazar al-Zaidi:

A transit rider protesting moves to slash service and raise fares was dragged out of a public meeting by police officers who feared he was about to imitate the Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President Bush.

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.

Iraqi Shoe-Gate: Update on Muntazar al-Zaidi (18 Dec)

Muntazar al-Zaidi "appeared" before an Iraqi court on Wednesday. The ominous note is that he didn't appear.

According to his brother, al-Zaidi was not present at his hearing. Instead, the judge said he had taken a statement from al-Zaidi in his jail cell. Al-Zaidi's family will not be allowed to see him for another eight days. Understandably, the suspicion is that al-Zaidi was not permitted in court because, in the words of his brother, "My brother was severely beaten and [Iraqi authorities] fear that his appearance could trigger anger at the court.”

The political impact of Shoe-Gate was apparent yesterday: "As [the Iraqi] Parliament began to discuss legislation on the withdrawal from Iraq of armed forces from nations other than the United States, a group of lawmakers demanded that the legislature instead take up the issue" of al-Zaidi's detention. The speaker of the Parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, announced his resignation.

Demonstrations for al-Zaidi took place across Iraq. In Fallujah "students raised their shoes and threw rocks at American soldiers, who reportedly opened fire above the crowd".

Just a Reminder on Torture: Dick Cheney is a Liar

It's one thing, from your office of Vice President, to make an unprecedented grab for Executive Power. It's another to lie blatantly about your efforts.



Dick Cheney to ABC News, 15 December 2008:

On the question of so-called "torture", we don't do torture, we never have. It's not something that this administration subscribes to. Again, we proceeded very cautiously; we checked, we had the Justice Department issue the requisite opinions in order to know where the bright lines were that you could not cross. The professionals involved in that program were very, very cautious, very careful, wouldn't do anything without making certain it was authorized and that it was legal. And any suggestion to the contrary is just wrong.

Senate Armed Services Committee Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in US Custody, December 2008:

The Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) interrogation program included at least one SERE* training technique, waterboarding. Senior Administration lawyers, including Alberto Gonzales, Counsel to the President, and David Addington, Counsel to the Vice President, were consulted on the development of legal analysis of CIA interrogation techniques. Legal opinions subsequently issued by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) interpreted legal obligations under U.S. anti-torture laws and determined the legality of CIA interrogation techniques. Those OLC opinions distorted the meaning and intent of anti-torture laws, rationalized the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody and influenced Department of Defense determinations as to what interrogation techniques were legal for use during interrogations conducted by U.S. military personnel.

*SERE stands for Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape training, exposing US forces to techniques “based on illegal exploitation (under the rules listed in the 1949 Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War) of prisoners over the last 50 years”.

Iraq and Shoes: The Secret Videos

A reader from London tips us off to the Internet evidence that there was more than one shoe-thrower and more than one object involved in what is becoming known as the Iraqi Sole-Gate. A collection of videos establishes that Tekken, The Three Stooges, The World of Warcraft, and Nintendo's Duck Hunt were all conspirators in hurling Pokeballs, bombs, and even the giant Monty Python foot at our unsuspecting President.