Middle East News

Shoe-thrower rejects Saddam defender, many other offers copy (2nd Roundup)

Dec 16, 2008, 20:15 GMT

Baghdad - Montazer al-Zaidi, the TV reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush, is so flooded with offers by lawyers who want to defend him that he can afford to be choosy. On Tuesday, al-Zaidi rejected an offer by Khalil al-Dulaimi, who defended the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein before his execution. He also turned down offers by various lawyers from across the Arab world. Al-Zaidi, who has worked for the Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya since 2005, has been detained by the Iraqi government for throwing his shoes at Bush on Sunday during a press conference as he shouted in Arabic: 'This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog'. Bush, who was standing next to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, reacted quickly and dodged both shoes. The journalist faces seven to 10 years behind bars if found guilty on charges of 'aggression against a president,' according to the official spokesman for the higher judicial council, Abdel Sattar al-Bairaqdar, in an interview with Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency. The official said that al-Zaidi had admitted his action in front of a judge. The outpouring of offerings by lawyers to defend him was triggered by remarks from al-Bairaqdar, who announced on Tuesday that al-Zaidi wanted an Iraqi lawyer to defend him. When al-Dulaimi came forward with his offer of defence and added that there were more than 200 other Arab and international lawyers offering to join the team, the journalist said no. Though al-Dulaimi is an Iraqi lawyer, al-Zaidi refused his offer because al-Dulaimi had headed the team defending toppled Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, who was hanged on December 30, 2006. According to VOI, Iraqi Bar Association chief Diyaa al-Saadi was named head of the lawyers team made up by Al-Baghdadiya channel to defend al-Zaidi. Earlier on Tuesday, al-Zaidi's brother told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the family fears the reporter is now being mistreated by police. 'We don't know where he is,' Oudai al-Zaidi told dpa by telephone. 'We fear that he might be mistreated after seeing footage of the guards taking him on TV.' Later, al-Baghdadiya reported that the 29-year-old al-Zaidi told his brother by phone that he is in good health and that he needs a team of lawyers to defend him in front of the Iraqi Criminal court. Oudai also turned down an invitation by the Venezuelan President to come and live in the Latin American country. 'We are grateful to President Hugo Chavez. However we are Iraqis, we live in Iraq,' Oudai said speaking on the behalf of his family. Hundreds of Iraqis demonstrated on Tuesday throughout the country demanding the release of al-Zaidi, whom they described as a 'hero' and 'a brave man'. In Washington, the White House declared that Bush 'harbours no hard feelings' over the shoe assault. 'The president just thinks that - it was just a shoe, people express themselves in lots of different ways,' Perino said. In other events in Iraq, a suicide car bomber killed six people and wounded eight when he blew up himself and his vehicle beside an army patrol in Diyala province, a security source said. The attack was in al-Saadiya district in Baquba, 60 kilometres north of Baghdad. Four out of the six dead were soldiers. Also in al-Saadiya, a bomb ripped through a police patrol killing a policeman and a civilian, and injuring eight people including three policemen, a police source told VOI. Earlier, unknown gunmen shot and killed an Awakening Councils leader outside a mosque in Baquba, VOI reported. The Awakening Councils are Sunni tribesmen who work with US forces to counter al- Qaeda militants. In central Baghdad an explosion struck a police patrol in al-Andalus square injuring six including three policemen, a police source told VOI. Also on Tuesday, Iraq's Minister of Science and Technology, Raid Fahmi, escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb planted in a car exploded near his convoy in al-Qarada district in central Baghdad, a security source told dpa. Moreover, US forces transferred the last 10 Iraqi female detainees to Iraqi's local authorities, according to a statement by the US forces on Tuesday. Some 15,800 Iraqis are held in US-run prisons. The number had decreased sharply from the 26,000 prisoners who were being detained at the end of 2007.

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LOLDec 16th, 2008 - 22:06:31

''On Tuesday, al-Zaidi rejected an offer by Khalil al-Dulaimi, who defended the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein before his execution.''

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YragDec 16th, 2008 - 23:44:25

Just let the guy go free....

Then award him the medal he truly deserves!

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bush is fast!Dec 17th, 2008 - 05:26:23

has anyone noticed how fast bush was?
he dodged them shoes from such a close range!
the guy is fast, and at his age, the guy is amazing!
makes you wonder how he could appear so slow and dumb when he would talk, as if he was acting the part of being dumb for some reason?
i don't think he is dump, i think it's cause the stuff he said were ment for dumb people, its that simple and it really worked for 8 years!
that means the guy is infact smart and played his part really well!
but i don't think he is exceptionally clever, cause if he was, then he would have known better than to fool like that, his own country!

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Shoe throwerDec 17th, 2008 - 06:02:57

My hero! Western leaders are all filthy pigs....grrrt peeeew*****

There I just spat at you filthy pigs!!!!

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Priya ReddyDec 17th, 2008 - 19:08:17

Just goes to show you what one person's daring, courage and defiance can accomplish. Conformity on the other hand is a stifling way to live. The American anti-war movement should take note. Our passivity is a form of violence as it has allowed the deaths of well over one million Iraqi's. Have we allowed our fear to define us? Has our passive approach allowed them to steal our lives, our future and our country? After 5 years of war and who knows how many more... did we learn anything about our ineffectiveness or evolve our strategy? email: journalista1@yahoo.com

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Well for a start you got his name wronrgDec 18th, 2008 - 12:12:07

His name in fact is Muntadhar Al-Zaidi.
I also notice with great amusement that there is a lot of 'Selective Editing' on this embarrassing story.
So let me fill you in.
Muntadhar al-Zaidi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shoe throwing at George W. Bush
During a press conference at the Prime Minister's Palace in Baghdad, Iraq, al-Zaidi threw his shoes at United States President George W. Bush. Throwing shoes is an act of extreme disrespect in both the Arab and Islamic cultures. 'This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog,' yelled al-Zaidi in Arabic as he threw his first shoe towards the U.S. president. 'This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq,' he shouted as he threw his second shoe. President Bush ducked twice, avoiding being hit by the shoes. Al-Zaidi was then pulled to the floor by another journalist, before being grabbed by Prime Minister Maliki's guards, kicked, and rushed out of the room.

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