Posted on 01/18/2009 9:59:06 PM PST by james500
The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at US President George W Bush is seeking asylum in Switzerland, Swiss newspaper Tribune de Geneve reports.
Muntadar al-Zaidi has been in custody in Iraq awaiting trial since the incident during a visit by Mr Bush to the country in mid-December.
He fears for his safety in his Baghdad prison, the paper says, quoting his lawyer, Mauro Poggia.
The lawyer argues his client likewise cannot resume his old job in Iraq.
Since his arrest, the Iraqi has reportedly been beaten in custody, suffering a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding, his older brother Dargham told the BBC last month.
...
"Even if many Iraqis support his act, he is at the mercy of all kinds of extremists..." he said.
"His life could become hell in his own country."
In Geneva, by contrast, "this single man who has no children may very well work as a journalist at the United Nations", the lawyer told the Tribune de Geneve.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Reads like parody. If he did that to Saddam he would have been killed in seconds and his family would have been tortured just for the hell of it.
This is what comes of having a name like Muntadar. How differently things could have been for him had Mr and Mrs al-Zaidi only named him Bob or Tom or Chet.
I don’t condone the physical abuse of this man, but it’s amazing to me, not shocking, that the U.N. would be willing to hire a journalist who tried to attack the leader of the free world, the leader of the country in which their headquarters is located.
Absolutely. I pointed that out immediately after it happened, but that falls on deaf ears when dealing with liberals who think of Bush as worse than Saddam.
Just before he threw the shoes he passed a note to a fellow journalist that read "It's glorious to die a martyr."
I guess he thought martyrs always died quick painless deaths. Or maybe he never realize to get the 72 virgins he would have to become the bitch of cell block D first.
Shocking? Oh dear me, no. The U.N. is just the place for him.
Maybe they would be happy to offer asylum and gainful employment for all the Club Gitmo detainees.
“Birds of a feather” and all that.
Throw a shoe, get your dream job.
This could set a precedent and become very popular worldwide.
Although the U.N. and Geneva might become swamped arranging accomodations and employment for a whole sea of shoe-throwing asylum seekers. Then again, shoe-throwers in actual repressive countries would not live long enough to apply for anything.
I wonder if a physical examination would actually back up his claims of abuse.
Confirmed: Media Misreported On Shoe-Chucker Al-Zeidi’s Beatings
After his arrest the media said that shoe-chucker al-Zeidi suffered broken ribs, a broken arm and internal bleeding...
Nope.
Shoe-chucker Muntadar al-Zeidi loves Che, loves US enemy Al-Sadr, and assaulted Bush.
No wonder he is so respected by the American Left.
An American flag is burned during a protest for the release of Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad on Sunday. (AP/Karim Kadim)
Now we know the truth about shoe-chucker and Leftist hero Muntadhar al-Zeidi.
After his arrest for assaulting President Bush, the media reported that al-Zeidi, suffered severe injuries and broken bones.
The BBC reported:
The brother of the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush has said that the reporter has been beaten in custody.
Muntadar al-Zaidi has allegedly suffered a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding, his older brother, Dargham, told the BBC.
Today we learn that those injury reports on the Sadr-loving reporter were bogus.
The AP reported today:
The case’s investigating judge has said the journalist was struck about the face and eyes, apparently by security agents who wrestled him to the floor after he hurled his shoes, forcing Bush to duck for cover.
Maitham al-Zeidi was not available to comment on the visit, but another brother, Dhargham, told The Associated Press that he was told the wounds had healed.
So much for those broken ribs and that broken arm.
It looks like it was just another one of those media reports to bash the Iraqi government and condemn the Bush Administration.
And once again, it was not true.
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/
Close to bottom of page.
I’m sure he’ll get a hero’s welcome in Geneva, the UN, and lots of places in Europe..... not to mention many “blue” areas in the USA. Hell, he could be made “honorary lifetime member” of Code Pink.
Tossing shoes at Bush was his job application AND interview for a UN job.
I suspect he is really being celebrated in his native country...
LOL... Abu Ghraib is looking kinda like a walk in the park now, eh?
Bush should really irritate him by advocating a pardon.
So once again the left uses one of its favorite tactics: throw whatever false charge out to the leftist media, issue retractions a short time later and instant urban myth. No need to trumpet any retraction so that a month later the lie is simply repeated and if called on it, play it off as “an innocent mistake.”
Brilliant argument. /sarc
Like when the Left claimed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction?
Are you suggesting seriously that they (you) knew to the contrary?The infuriating thing about the Bush Administration is precisely its tendency to abandon tenable, strong rhetorical positions at the first opposition.
Bush's "16 Words" on Iraq & Uranium:
He May Have Been Wrong But He Wasn't LyingIndeed, the way Bush phrased it, he wasn't even wrong - and yet the administration backed away from the statement in the most craven manner. The UK government confirmed that they had indeed "determined" - wrongly, perhaps - just what Bush said they had "determined." So the "infamous" words were literally correct as stated.
Did he break his throwing arm? Will he be out for the season?
That’s a good point. I’m against the abuse if there was abuse, but we don’t know if his brother and the media are saying this to make Bush and the U.S. look bad.
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