Iraqi shoe thrower being showered by ‘offers and gifts’ upon his anticipated release from prison.
Iraqi shoe thrower being showered by ‘offers and gifts’ upon his anticipated release from prison.
Last December, Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi made headlines across the world when he hurled his shoes at President Bush during a press conference in Baghdad. Although al-Zaidi was originally sentenced to three years in prison, Iraqi courts recently decided to release him on Sept. 14 for “good behavior.” Now, the Guardian is reporting that al-Zaidi is being inundated “by offers and gifts” from all over his country:
From his prison cell, Zaidi has a sense of the gathering fuss, but not the full extent of the benefactors and patrons preparing for his release.
A new four-bedroom home has been built by his former boss. A new car – and the promise of many more – awaits.
Pledges of harems, money and healthcare are pouring in to his employers, the al-Baghdadia television channel.
“One Iraqi who lived in Morocco called to offer to send his daughter to be Muntazer’s wife,” said editor Abdul Hamid al-Saij.
“Another called from Saudi offering $10m for his shoes, and another called from Morocco offering a gold-saddled horse.
For his part, al-Zaidi has told the press that he plans to leave journalism and open an orphanage upon his release.
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bravery rewarded
bush should have to stand there while the parents of each and every soldier throws a shoe with a spiked stiletto at his face
September 9th, 2009 at 3:23 pmGreat job!
Whatever you want, it is yours.
France
September 9th, 2009 at 3:24 pm***
“Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.”
:|
September 9th, 2009 at 3:27 pm72 virgins coming up!
September 9th, 2009 at 3:27 pmNow this might sound strange but I’m old and African American but the young man is easy on the eyes as he’s nice looking, smart and a real man. I don’t blame the woman for hoping they could be his special lady. He stood up for people who couldn’t stand up for themselves and ones that others wouldn’t stand up for. Yes if I were much younger I like to meet this young man.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:30 pmHe’s more American than any Republican could hope to be.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:31 pmToo bad he missed!
He might have knocked some sense into that moronic former “president” of ours.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:31 pmCan’t wait for him to do the media circuit in the USA
there should be parades in his honor
September 9th, 2009 at 3:32 pmHopefully President Obama awards this hero the Presidential Media of Freedom. It’s well deserved.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:33 pmDr. Hussein Matt says:
Man, wouldn’t that just chap the Republican’s hides??
*grin*
September 9th, 2009 at 3:36 pmI can’t believe this guy had to go to prison for what he did. He speaks for many Iraqi’s as well as Americans, etc. Just makes me sick how complacent we Americans are when it comes to war.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:37 pmironically how “they’ll be throwing candy and flowers” turned into “they’ll be whipping jimmy choo’s and kenneth cole’s at our president’s head”.
you repukies ought to be real proud for putting that clown 43 forefront and center.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:39 pmCan we bring him to Texas and give him another try?
September 9th, 2009 at 3:40 pmI’d like to give him dubya’s address, and a boxcar full of doc martens……
September 9th, 2009 at 3:42 pmIs he single?
September 9th, 2009 at 3:43 pmIt’s a real pity that Bush was such a corrupt, criminal thug sitting in a stolen Presidency seat that I would actually admire the shoe thrower and not our ex-pres.
Why is Bush and Cheney not on trial for WAR CRIMES?
September 9th, 2009 at 3:43 pm$10,000,000 would fund a chain of orphanages in Iraq. Way to make a difference, Mr. al-Zaidi.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:45 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
It was a symbolic gesture and nothing more. bush and his cronies are the only reason the man was imprisoned for expressing his freedom of speech rights.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:52 pmThe guy should have thrown poo at him instead of shoes.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:53 pmI LOVED what he did!
He deserves a gold plated Shoe Award.
…there are many a politician that I would love to toss a couple of shoes at!
September 9th, 2009 at 3:56 pm****
#18,
he’s kind of like a middle eastern tea bagger
at a town hall, isn’t he?
**
September 9th, 2009 at 3:57 pmKarmic how Bush’s invading Iraq to save face turned out….
September 9th, 2009 at 4:00 pmjoeyramonesmom,
Off topic – I saw the Ramones in a small club in R.I. I was no more than 10 feet from the stage. I had my girlfriend on my shoulders and the fellow in front had the same – as did most everyone.
Great music, great time, but I never actually saw them.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:01 pmGeorge says – Hehehe, that guy couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, I’m fast, really fast, swoosh, Speedy Gonzolas fast. Laura throws stuff at me all the time, swoosh goes the lamp, swoosh goes the plate, I’m ducking and running for cover, bag of pretzels in one hand and half empty bottle in the other. I’m the master of not taking damage, I do the drunken monkey style super dodge, all kungfu like, just like I did at the Olympics in China, woohoo, drunken monkey. I can even avoid War Crimes trials, can’t touch me, not this decider, no sir, free as a bird, murder, kidnapping, torture, willy-pete, hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians murdered and I go to bed every night not caring one bit, drunk, but not caring…what you say Dick?
Dick says – Shut up and get me my fresh blood from cute kittens and puppies.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:03 pmFunny how one small event depicted much larger sociopolitical issues.
This wasn’t about religion.
This was about illegal invaders stealing your resources and killing your women & children.
If the shoe fits, throw it.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:06 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Funny how they didn’t mention this on MSM yet…
September 9th, 2009 at 4:08 pmSort of like a male prostitute masquerading as a “reporter” getting access to the White House?
OR
Like teabagging protesters/whiners carrying military style rifles and hi-capacity pistols to a presidential event?
September 9th, 2009 at 4:09 pmThat’s great, but it’s sad that that was the closest bush got to any consequences or repercussions. He ordered the invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation that was never a threat to the US based on false information and he gets a shoe thrown at him.
It’s good that al-Zaidi is being praised, not to mention released, so there is that.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
September 9th, 2009 at 4:12 pmLaughable. You anti-American terrorist teabagging SCUM have spent the last 8 months calling our American President a “communist, “Fascist”, “terrorist”, “radical”, “Marxist”, “Anti-American”, etc., Are you really this stupid or just pretending?
It is a sham that the shoe did not find its mark. But I’m glad he is getting out of jail and is being viewed as a hero. Bush and his cronies should be hauled before the criminal tribunal at the Hauge for war crimes.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:15 pm***
#27,
very telling, indeed.
:|
September 9th, 2009 at 4:19 pmThis heroic man did what billions of people around the world wanted to do. ( see Pew Report on most hated man on Earth). I heard from people in the Amazonian Jungle as well as London, Berlin and Japan who were delighted at his bravery.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:30 pmThe fact that Bush didn’t “get it” just shows how stupid he is!
joe cantwell says:
#18,
he’s kind of like a middle eastern tea bagger
at a town hall, isn’t he?
September 9th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
_____________
Hmmm… I don’t see the comparison. Mr. az-Zaidi actually knows what he’s talking about.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:33 pmYou are an icon for our time. I can only hope that more people have been inspired by what you did.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:36 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
STORM says:
Its very telling the type of people that convene here when their biggest hero is someone that threw a shoe at an American President.
Well, gee, stormie, at least we hated that strutting, posturing warmongering little pr*ck Bush for excellent reasons — unlike you teabagging retards who hate Obama simply because he’s black…
September 9th, 2009 at 4:38 pmFOIA Gras says:
Please say that it isn’t so, that liberals are taking glee that al-Zaidi is receiving offers of sex workers (in case “harems” wasn’t clear enough for some readers).
September 9th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
___________
“Harem” is not synonymous with prostitute. The word you’re looking for is “sharmouta.” I didn’t see anything about that in the article.
“Harem” or “hareem” merely refers to the female members of a household, and has nothing to do with sex workers. Sorry to burst your Arab stereotype bubble…
September 9th, 2009 at 4:40 pmHe’s lucky he did it in Iraq. If he that in the US, Bush would have had him shot.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:41 pmFOIA Gras says:
It’s not a mere symbolic gesture, it’s assault. Assault is not protected speech.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
_____________
Neither is the illegal invasion of a country that posed us no threat whatsoever, but that didn’t stop us…
September 9th, 2009 at 4:43 pmNo one claimed the legality of it. The common sense and rationality is another issue. Don’t come here and whine about access to a president over a lousy shoe when your fellow anti-American teabag scum are marching to protesters armed with rifles and pistols. Your fake outrage is laughable. Use you brain for once, arsehole.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:47 pmjoeyramonesmom,
Off topic – I saw the Ramones in a small club in R.I. I was no more than 10 feet from the stage. I had my girlfriend on my shoulders and the fellow in front had the same – as did most everyone.
Great music, great time, but I never actually saw them.
Sounds like fun. I met him when he played at my college. Weird guy, but I love their music. Two sads days for me when he and Joe Strummer died.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:49 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Why bother trying to comment on Reichwing sites? I forget whether it was RedState or Freeperville but I tried making a comment about a story that claimed that the WMD were justification for invading Iraq. I posted two words: “What WMD”.
Guess what? I was banned within minutes. It’s really quite impossible to engage them on their own turf because they simply deny the truth when it conflicts with their preconceptions. I think one would find more success teaching cats calculus than trying to inform a Freeper about much of anything.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:53 pm#39
Thanx for the clarification. I hope you’re right. What is the purpose or objective, then, to pledge female household members in the fashion that is depicted on this post?
September 9th, 2009 at 4:55 pmstormy,
ESAD.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:55 pmAfter the way Obama has been treated, I can’t believe any conservatives or concern trolls have the nerve to whine about how this was disrespectful to an American president. What a steaming crock of bull.
September 9th, 2009 at 5:00 pmMy memory isn’t what it was thirty years ago but, wasn’t the actual charge “insulting a head of state” rather than assault?
September 9th, 2009 at 5:03 pmSTORM says:
You are lame even by liberal standards. Is that the best you can do? Where did you get that argument from, Keith Olbermann’s autobiography on how to piss your paints without anyone knowing?
September 9th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
_____________
Ok, free trolling lesson.
If you’re going to insult someone, the insult has to make sense. You can’t just pick out a few random terms like “Keith Olbermann” and “autobiography” and “piss your pants” and just jam them willy-nilly into a few lines of text and stick a period at the end. That’s not an insult, it’s a train wreck.
Good insults require time and effort. They need a little craftsmanship. They take creativity. Like when I tell you that your posting is so bad that it sends the English language on a three-day bender of cheap scotch, cigarettes, and Zoloft, eventually leaving it stranded and hung over in a one-star motel outside Toledo seriously doubting that there’s anything in this world to live for.
See? That’s how it’s done, kid.
Also, try to spell “pants” correctly.
September 9th, 2009 at 5:03 pmHey Storm: you weren’t concerned with five previous presidents’ many czars and addresses to school kids. You didn’t question their citizenship or their heritage. You didn’t call them communists or fascists.
By coincidence, none of those presidents were African Americans. Now that we have an African American president, you’re concerned with these things. That’s why thinking people smell racism.
September 9th, 2009 at 5:04 pmFOIA Gras says:
Thanx for the clarification. I hope you’re right. What is the purpose or objective, then, to pledge female household members in the fashion that is depicted on this post?
September 9th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
______________
To marry your daughter into the family of a well-respected person.
September 9th, 2009 at 5:06 pmCan we get real here for a second. Bush lied the country into a war of choice in which he had over 1 million Iraqi men, women and children killed.
An Iraqi threw some shoes at him. WHATEVER! The guy deserves to be in prison for the rest of his life!
September 9th, 2009 at 5:07 pmActually, in Arabic means ‘forbidden area’. ‘Undisclosed site’ would be a closer match.
September 9th, 2009 at 5:09 pmFOIA Gras says:
“It’s not a mere symbolic gesture, it’s assault. Assault is not protected speech.”
1 million Iraqi dead, over 4,000 Americans dead, over 30,000 Americans wounded, $1 trillion in taxpayer money, all on the basis of lies, lies and more lies…
and, you’re whining about assault by shoe. Just go to hell, man.
September 9th, 2009 at 5:12 pmRepost:
September 9th, 2009 at 5:13 pmActually, the Arabic, harem, means ‘forbidden area’ in English. ‘Undisclosed site’ would be a closer match.
#52
OK, thanx. I misread the plural case in your first post. What happens, then, if a family has more than one daughter of marrying age? Is only the eldest offered or (perhaps in some cases) all of them offered and leave it to fate to see which one makes a connection?
September 9th, 2009 at 5:21 pmWaltTheMan says:
Repost:
Actually, the Arabic, harem, means ‘forbidden area’ in English. ‘Undisclosed site’ would be a closer match.
September 9th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
___________
It all depends where you put your vowels. 7aram ( حَرَم ) can mean “sacred place” or “taboo” or “wife” depending on the context, whereas 7areem ( حَريم ) refers specifically to the women of a household, and 7araam ( حَرَام ) means “banned” or “impermissible.” But they’re all from the same root, 7arama ( حَرَمَ ), which meens “to deny” or “to keep out.”
September 9th, 2009 at 5:35 pmThrow a shoe at Bush and gain the admiration and gifts of the world.
Now THAT is democracy in action ! (not to mention a fairly interesting vote on what folks think of Georgie)
September 9th, 2009 at 5:56 pmSTORM says:
What is very telling is how stupid you punkass trolls are
September 9th, 2009 at 6:39 pmThis might be over your heads, unless you are an ardent college football fan. But Steve Spurrier says the guy should get a scholarship from Free Shoes University, aka Florida State.
September 9th, 2009 at 6:58 pmChristian Ponder is much quicker, has a better 40 time and a much better arm.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:20 pmPlus, Kws, I don’t think al-Zaidi is tall enough to see over his o-line.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:21 pmFOIA Gras says:
——————————————————————————–
#19
It’s not a mere symbolic gesture, it’s assault. Assault is not protected speech.
It’s an “assault” that wouldn’t get the time of day in most countries. Seriously, it was a shoe. No one goes to jail for throwing shoes.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:22 pmSTORM is short for “Stormfront.” ‘Nuff said.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:23 pmThis might be over your heads,
September 9th, 2009 at 7:26 pm–
Another passive aggressive phrase that usually cues the reader to approaching crap…
dbadass: “Another passive aggressive phrase that usually cues the reader to approaching crap…”
I was willing to overlook the passive aggression because he actually posted something that didn’t make me slap my head. Irrelevant? Yes. Mean-spirited and ugly? Not this time.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:29 pm“Storm” being short for Stormfront… Hmmm. That makes sense, especially when you take into account how fricking stupid this guy is.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:31 pmFOIA Gras says:
“It’s not a mere symbolic gesture, it’s assault. Assault is not protected speech.”
1 million Iraqi dead, over 4,000 Americans dead, over 30,000 Americans wounded, $1 trillion in taxpayer money, all on the basis of lies, lies and more lies…
and, you’re whining about assault by shoe. Just go to hell, man.
Normally, these silly countries only put women in jail for wearing pants.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:59 pmdbadass says:
This might be over your heads,
–
Another passive aggressive phrase that usually cues the reader to approaching crap…
I was afraid someone named dumbass wouldn’t get the joke. Sorry
September 9th, 2009 at 8:00 pmOops, Obama is coming on TV again. Get the clicker. Turn it off, fast.
September 9th, 2009 at 8:03 pmkwsventures says:
Why arent you embarassed to be so stupid? You are nothing but an ignorant punkass troll. You are a moron. You disgust decent human beings. Just STFU you KNOW you are too stupid to engage so spare us how proud you are of your stupidity
September 9th, 2009 at 8:20 pmkwsventures says:
Your stupidity is an assault on humanity itself. We are talking about Iraq. They had women doctors, women lawyers the first woman JUDGE in Iraq was sworn in 1958. Just STFU. You are so stupid pity is the best you can hope for here.
September 9th, 2009 at 8:22 pmIf the cat had pay-pal, i’d send him a sawbuck, and a real nice card…
September 10th, 2009 at 7:50 am200 years ago, a politician like Bush would have been tarred, feathered, and ridden out on a rail. He’s lucky he only got a couple of shoes thrown at him.
September 10th, 2009 at 10:45 amThank you for your sharing.!
September 11th, 2009 at 4:09 pmI think what the shoe thrower did was wrong and he has paid the price for his actions. I hope he does well with his plans to help children by opening an orphanage. karin germe
September 15th, 2009 at 7:47 am