Muntazar al-Zaidi Update: Shoe-Throwing Monument Unveiled (And Removed) in Iraq

Latest (Friday evening in Iraq): The sculpture has been removed after a request from the central government in Baghdad. Police visited the site to ensure the request was carried out. The provincial deputy governor said, "We will not allow anyone to use the government facilities and buildings for political motives."

Muntazar al-Zaidi, the journalist who threw his shoes at former President George W. Bush in December, is still languishing in an Iraqi jail, but his act hasn't been forgotten.

An 11-foot-high sculpture of one of the shoes has been erected at the Tikrit Orphanage. It was made by a local artist, assisted by the orphans. The orphanage director said:

Those orphans who helped the sculptor in building this monument were the victims of Bush's war....When the next generation sees the shoe monument, they will ask their parents about it. Then their parents will start talking about the hero Muntadhir al-Zaidi, who threw his shoe at George W. Bush during his unannounced farewell visit.

The War on Terror Muntazar al-Zaidi Pre-Inauguration Story of the Day

Via Breaking News Online: "Emergency services responded to a suspicious item found over the White House fence which turned out to be a shoe."

Iraq: Update on Muntazar al-Zaidi

Ever since his trial was delayed at the end of December, there has been little news of Muntazar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush.

Today, however, al-Zaidi was allowed to talk for two hours with his brother Maitham, who said the journalist was in good shape. Another brother, Dargham, said that the prisoner turned 30 the day before, and "some patriotic officers...organized a party for him and brought birthday cake". Muntazar al-Zaidi's spirits were further boosted when he learned on Friday of the approval of his actions: "He was very happy when he heard that all the Iraqis support him. He even cried when he heard that there were even demonstrations on his behalf in the United States."

Despite the good news, Muntazar al-Zaidi is still not being allowed to see his lawyer, who has only been allowed into the prison once since al-Zaidi's arrest.

The "Violent Semi-Peace" in Iraq

Last week, after the formal handover of sovereignty from US occupying forces to Iraqi authorities, we noted an Orwellian description in The New York Times that the country was now in a "violent semi-peace".

Although attention has turned away from Baghdad, because of events in Gaza and also the (misguided) sense that the long aftermath to the 2003 war is ending, the tension in events keeps sneaking back. On the one hand, an interesting blog on the website Alive in Baghdad recounts last week's Shi'a commemoration of Ashura: "This year many Iraqis have noted a dramatic decrease in violence. With the exception of a suicide attack on Iranian pilgrims in Kadhamiya, Shi’a in Iraq were able to celebrate 2009’s Ashura Festival in relative peace."

On the other, this morning's headlines highlight that violence: "A string of bombings around Iraq's capital has killed eight people, including three Iraqi soldiers who died when their weapons truck was hit, and wounded at least 32."

As the political complexities get even more tangled in advance of provincial elections --- the latest is that Iraqi Sunni parties cannot agree on a replacement for the Speaker of the Parliament, who resigned in the midst of the debate over Muntazar al-Zaidi's shoe-throwing --- the half-full, half-empty state of "violent semi-peace" is likely to continue.

Gaza: Tasteful Video Game of the Day

Enduring America has a proud tradition (in its two-plus months in existence) of combining international news and video games. We were proud, for example, to feature the Muntazar al-Zaidi tribute games last month and not-so-proud to report the US Army's use of video games to get American teenagers into military service.

Now, however, we may take a step back. How can anyone compete, for taste and decency, with "Save Israel?": "You need to save Israeli citys. First, click on the city, to turn on the alarm. Now you can click on the rocket, to blow it up."