Who Is the Shoe-throwing Reporter?
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Iraqi shoe-throwing reporter becomes the talk of Iraq
By Waleed Ibrahim Waleed Ibrahim 2 hrs 11 mins ago
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush has become the talk of Iraq, hailed by marchers as a national hero but blasted by the government as a barbarian.
The little-known Shi’ite reporter, said to have harbored anger against Bush for the thousands of Iraqis who died after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, had previously made headlines only once, when he was briefly kidnapped by gunmen in 2007.
TV reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi remained in detention on Monday, accused by the Iraqi government of a “barbaric act.” He would be sent for trial on charges of insulting the Iraqi state, said the prime minister’s media adviser, Yasin Majeed.
His employer, independent al-Baghdadiya television, demanded his release and demonstrators rallied for him in Baghdad’s Sadr City, in the southern Shi’ite stronghold of Basra and in the holy city of Najaf, where some threw shoes at a U.S. convoy.
“Thanks be to God, Muntazer’s act fills Iraqi hearts with pride,” his brother, Udai al-Zaidi, told Reuters Television.
“I’m sure many Iraqis want to do what Muntazer did. Muntazer used to say all the orphans whose fathers were killed are because of Bush.”
Zaidi shouted “this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog,” at Bush in a news conference he held with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a farewell visit to Baghdad on Sunday.
The journalist then flung one shoe at Bush, forcing him to duck, followed by another, which sailed over
Bush’s head and slammed into the wall behind him. Throwing shoes at someone is the worst possible insult in the Arab world.
Zaidi was dragged struggling and screaming from the room by security guards and could be heard shouting outside while the news conference continued after momentary mayhem.
‘BARBARIC’
The government said Zaidi had carried out “a barbaric and ignominious act” that was not fitting of the media’s role and demanded an apology from his television station.
Al-Baghdadiya television played endless patriotic music, with Zaidi’s face plastered across the screen.
A newscaster solemnly read out a statement calling for his release, “in accordance with the democratic era and the freedom of expression that Iraqis were promised by U.S. authorities.”
It said that any harsh measures taken against the reporter would be reminders of the “dictatorial era.”
The Iraqi Journalists’ Syndicate said Zaidi’s “far from professional” and irresponsible conduct had placed it in an “embarrassing and critical” situation. Nevertheless, it called on Maliki to release him for humanitarian reasons.
“It was the throw of the century. I believe Bush deserves what happened to him because he has not kept his promises to Iraqis,” said Baghdad resident Abu Hussein, 48.
Parliamentary reaction was mixed, with some saying Zaidi chose the wrong venue for his protest. Others cheered.
“Al-Zaidi’s shoe is the most famous shoe in the whole world,” said Fawzi Akram, a Turkman lawmaker loyal to anti-American Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
A Libyan charity group chaired by leader Muammar Gaddafi’s daughter, Aicha Gaddafi, gave Zaidi an award for bravery.
Zaidi, now in his late 20s, spent more than two days blindfolded, after armed men kidnapped him in November 2007. He said at the time that the kidnappers had beaten him until he lost consciousness, and used his necktie to blindfold him.
He never learned the identity of the kidnappers, who questioned him about his work but did not demand a ransom.
Colleagues say Zaidi resented Bush, blaming him for the bloodshed that ravaged Iraq. It did not appear that he had lost any close family members during the sectarian killings and insurgency, which in recent months have finally begun to wane.
(Additional reporting by Haidar Kadhim and Wissam Mohammed; Writing by Michael Christie; Editing by Dominic Evans)
shirien Says: 16.12.08 at 2:06 am
May Allah ‘az wa jal grant him of the best shoes in Jannah!
I think the most ridiculous part of all of this was an interview Bush did afterward in which he said, “I don’t know what his beef is.”
shirien Says: 16.12.08 at 2:14 am
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081215/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_shoe_tosser
Family: Shoe thrower hates both US, Iran role
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer Robert H. Reid, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 12 mins ago
BAGHDAD – The Iraqi TV reporter who hurled his shoes at George W. Bush was kidnapped once by militants and, separately, detained briefly by the U.S. military — a story of getting hit from all sides that is bitterly familiar to many Iraqis.
Over time, Muntadhar al-Zeidi, a 28-year-old unmarried Shiite, came to hate both the U.S. military occupation and Iran’s interference in Iraq, his family told The Associated Press on Monday.
Al-Zeidi’s act of defiance Sunday transformed an obscure reporter from a minor TV station into a national hero to many Iraqis fed up with the nearly six-year U.S. presence here, but also fearful that their country will fall under Iran’s influence once the Americans leave. Bush was not hit or injured.
Several thousand people demonstrated in Baghdad and other cities to demand al-Zeidi’s release. The attack was the talk of the town in coffee shops, business offices and even schools — and a subject across much of the Arab world.
A day after the attack, al-Zeidi’s three brothers and one sister gathered in al-Zeidi’s simple, one-bedroom apartment in west Baghdad. The home was decorated with a poster of Latin American revolutionary leader Che Guevara, who is widely lionized in the Middle East.
Family members expressed bewilderment over al-Zeidi’s action and concern about his treatment in Iraqi custody. But they also expressed pride over his defiance of an American president who many Iraqis believe has destroyed their country.
“I swear to Allah, he is a hero,” said his sister, who goes by the nickname Umm Firas, as she watched a replay of her brother’s attack on an Arabic satellite station. “May Allah protect him.”
The family insisted that al-Zeidi’s action was spontaneous — perhaps motivated by the political turmoil that their brother had reported on, plus his personal brushes with violence and the threat of death that millions of Iraqis face daily.
Al-Zeidi joined Al-Baghdadia television in September 2005 after graduating from Baghdad University with a degree in communications. Two years later, he was seized by gunmen while on an assignment in a Sunni district of north Baghdad.
He was freed unharmed three days later after Iraqi television stations broadcast appeals for his release. At the time, al-Zeidi told reporters he did not know who kidnapped him or why, but his family blamed al-Qaida and said no ransom was paid.
In January he was taken again, this time arrested by American soldiers who searched his apartment building, his brother, Dhirgham, said. He was released the next day with an apology, the brother said.
Those experiences helped mold a deep resentment of both the U.S. military’s presence here and Iran’s pervasive influence over Iraq’s cleric-dominated Shiite community, according to his family.
“He hates the American material occupation as much as he hates the Iranian moral occupation,” Dhirgham said, alluding to the influence of pro-Iranian Shiite clerics in political and social life. “As for Iran, he considers the regime to be the other side of the American coin.”
That’s a view widely held among Iraqis — including many Shiites — who believe the Americans and the Iranians have been fighting a proxy war in their country through Tehran’s alleged links to Shiite extremists.
Al-Zeidi may have also been motivated by what a colleague described as a boastful, showoff personality.
“He was very boastful, arrogant and always showing off,” said Zanko Ahmed, a Kurdish journalist who attended a journalism training course with al-Zeidi in Lebanon. “He tried to raise topics to show that nobody is as smart as he is.”
Ahmed recalled that al-Zeidi spoke glowingly of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose followers organized protests Monday to demand his release.
“Regrettably, he didn’t learn anything from the course in Lebanon, where we were taught ethics of journalism and how to be detached and neutral,” Ahmed said.
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Associated Press reporters Muhieddin Rashad in Baghdad and Yahya Barzanji in Sulaimaniyah contributed to this report.
aamer khan Says: 25.12.08 at 11:52 am
wow, that’s a great photo, i didn’t see that angle anywhere else.