Iraqi Reporters Make Rookie Mistake, Treat President Bush with Respect
Helen Thomas and the entire reporting staff of MS-NBC were all accounted for at the time, so I’m pretty sure the identification of this man is correct.
An Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes and an insult at George W. Bush, without hitting him, as the US president was shaking hands with the Iraqi premier at his Baghdad office on Sunday.
As the two leaders met in Nuri al-Maliki’s private office, a journalist sitting in the third row jumped up, shouting: “It is the farewell kiss, you dog,” and threw his shoes one after the other towards Bush.
…
The journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi from Al-Baghdadia channel which broadcasts from Cairo, was frogmarched from the room by security staff, an AFP journalist said.
The security staff then took al-Zaidi to a blood-stained prison cell where he was beaten to within an inch of his life, had his feet cut off so he could never wear shoes again, was forced to watch as his wife and daughters were raped and tortured to death, then was sent back home as a message to the rest of the Iraqi journalist community.
No, wait. That’s what would have happened if he had thrown his shoes Saddam Hussein. I guess things aren’t all that bad in Iraq if you can disrespect the leader of the most powerful nation in the world while he’s standing next to the leader of your country and suffer no more than a quick removal from the press room and a gracious playing down of the temper tantrum from the President.
To the Iraqi reporters’ credit, several of them apologized for the unprofessional behavior of their colleague. It’s kind of a shame that the Iraqis treated President Bush better than our own reporters do. I think if anyone ever apologized for the antics of David Gregory or the rest of the BDS-addled White House press corps, President Bush would faint dead away. But they’re pretty new to the whole cynical ingratitude thing. Give them a few years to watch our media at work and they’ll get the whole self-importance thing down, I’m sure.
Other Posts of Interest:
- Iraq Goes 10 for 18. More to Come.
- Russia Doesn’t Care Much for Reporters
- The AP Discovers the Bush Doctrine, Pronounces It Desireable
Category: Alliances and Allies, Oh, THAT liberal media., President George Bush
Hey, if reporters had to apologize for every time one of them was rude to the President, they wouldn't have time for anything else.