Tragic Comedy of Iraqi Shoes: Update on Muntazar al-Zaidi

These may be the most horribly comic sentences I have read in 2008. From The Times of London yesterday:

All those in the Arab world who hailed al-Zaidi's actions should ask themselves what would happen in their own countries if a local journalist tried to hurl insults at President Mubarak of Egypt or President Assad of Syria....Iraq is far from perfect, but at least its people have learnt to enjoy freedom of expression.

Muntazar al-Zaidi enjoyed his freedom of expression by taking a beating from Iraqi security men. He may have broken ribs, a broken arm, and/or a broken hand. He has appeared in court to plead guilty to "aggression against a president". According to a spokesman for the Iraqi Judicial Council, he could be sentenced to up to 15 years in jail.

This, however, can be celebrated as an American- and British-bequeathed freedom to Iraq. After all, as Christopher Howse of The Daily Telegraph assures, "Though I do not envy [al-Zaidi] his time in an Iraqi jail, at least he has not been despatched as he would have been under Saddam."

Thank goodness for Patrick Cockburn of The Independent, who is almost the only American or British journalist I read this morning to set out the full story. The Times does have a follow-up story on its "freedom of expression", although somewhat bizarrely its reporter assures that al-Zaidi was "carried away by prime ministerial guards [with] no sign of excessive violence". (The Guardian has an opinion piece by Samir Ramadani praising al-Zaidi but otherwise ignores the story today.)

In the US, The New York Times has a lengthy article, but it plays down the possible jail time --- no more than seven years and as little as 12 months --- and the possibility of al-Zaidi's injuries. And in The Washington Post?

Nothing. Not a word.

Fact x Importance = News (16 Dec): Camp X-Ray, Khatami, Bad Cheney, Lovely Obama

Other stories we're following:

SHHH! DON'T MENTION THOSE UNLAWFUL COMBATANTS

In contrast to the glare of publicity the Bush Administration shone on its trial of 9-11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, cut short when he and other defendants tried to plead guilty, all the President's men and women are keeping quiet about the latest developments at Guantanamo Bay.



Three of six Bosnians held at Camp X-Ray will soon released, according to defense lawyers with information from Guantanamo and Bosnian officials. Last month, a Federal judge ruled against the Bush Administration, declaring there was insufficient evidence to show that five of the six, all of whom were born in Algeria, were "unlawful combatants". No word, however, on the fate of the others, including Lakhdar Boumediene, whose name is associated with a Supreme Court decision regarding the legal rights of detainees.

Meanwhile, "the Supreme Court yesterday kept alive a lawsuit by four British citizens who had been detained as terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay and had alleged that former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials were responsible for their torture and the denial of their religious rights".

TODAY'S NON-APOLOGY: CHENEY STILL GROWLS


For anyone who thought Vice President Dick Cheney might be regretting any of the Executive Power he grasped with his detaining/surveilling/renditioning/torturing/war-fighting/Constitution-shredding hands over the last eight years. Facing the tough interrogation of Rush Limbaugh, he held firm:

Once they get here and they're faced with the same problems we deal with every day, then they will appreciate some of the things we've put in place."

And...

Guantanamo has been very, very valuable. And I think they'll discover that trying to close it is a very hard proposition.

ISRAEL-PALESTINE:

The BBC's Today programme confidently reported this morning that the United Nations was on the verge of endoring "the Arab proposal", first mooted by Saudi Arabia in 2002, for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

There has been no further word, however, and The New York Times has a different perspective:

Senior Arab ministers met with the quartet of Middle East peace negotiators at the United Nations on Monday and lamented the lack of any concrete results after a year of renewed efforts

KHATAMI: WILL HE RUN, WON'T HE RUN?

From Iran, The New York Times offers a non-too-veiled boost to former President Mohammad Khatami as he continues his Hamlet-like indecision over whether to challenge for the Presidency next spring.

TODAY'S LONGEST LOVE LETTER: I HEART OBAMA


Helene Cooper writes in The New York Times, allegedly on President-elect Obama and foreign policy team:

[Obama] has read “Ghost Wars,” the history of the long adventure by the Central Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan and its fruitless effort to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. He has sought the counsel of an old Republican realist — Brent Scowcroft, the former national security adviser — who has long argued against an ideologically driven foreign policy.

And he has one-upped President Bush’s six intelligence briefings a week by demanding seven, prompting Mike McConnell, who handles presidential briefings as the director of national intelligence, to joke, “I don’t know if there’s some kind of competition going.”

Etc., etc. for 1000 words.

A Farewell Song for George Bush: "I'm Still Mad as Hell"

A bit of an obvious nomination, but given the background, couldn't let Dubya go without this goodbye:

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=o-lJu5ibAM8[/youtube]

See all the Farewell Song contest entrants

Corruption and Intrigue in Afghanistan

Sarah Chayes, who runs a cooperative in Afghanistan, has a compelling but disturbing account (printed in full below) in The Washington Post. In contrast to most headlines that focus on "the Taliban", Chayes' anger is directed at the Government:

Most of my conversations with locals about what's going wrong have centered on corruption and abuse of power.

Chayes rejects negotiations with the Taliban: "Ask any Afghan what's really needed, what would render the Taliban irrelevant, and they'll tell you: improving the behavior of the officials whom the United States and its allies ushered into power after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks." She makes the disturbing assertion, "What I've witnessed in Kandahar since late 2002 has amounted to an invasion by proxy, with the Pakistani military once again using the Taliban to gain a foothold in Afghanistan."

Indeed, that allegation is doubly disturbing because, on the same day, The Times of London writes of Pakistani Major-General Faisal Alavi, "murdered last month after threatening to expose Pakistani army generals who had made deals with Taliban militants".

Bleed The World

Too many videos in the past couple of days? Possibly. But who could resist this Band Aid/ economic meltdown mashup? We present Bleed The World:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spQo_HIg-o8&eurl=http://www.boingboing.net/2008/12/15/band-aid-for-the-ban.html&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

[Bleed The World, via Boing Boing]