December 15, 2008

Iraqi Shoe Throwing Journalist Is A Che Guevara Lover

I was surprised to see the little tidbit about Che.

Missing from this article and others is US and coalition forces gave him that freedom to throw his shoes. Saddam era he likely would have been tortured and killed.

BAGHDAD (AP) — 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.[...]

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 Cuban revolutionary leader Che Guevara, who is widely lionized in the Middle East.

Middle East only? Not hardly.


By Stable Hand at December 15, 2008 12:25 PM | | l digg this