15 December 2008

Shoe Tossing Journalist in Iraq From a Ba'athist Rag in Cairo

Dodging incoming is an acquired skill picked up on fortified bases in Iraq for the sake of self-preservation, but you usually don't expect to get hit with a flying shoe. An angry Iraqi journalist hurled a pair of loafers at our President today during a press conference in Baghdad. Al-Jazeera notes that anything foot-related is a deep insult in Arabic culture, as noted when Saddam's statue got a savage shoe beating in 2003. Some people in our country, who might want to chuck a shoe or two at Bush, were elated at the news. But, the journalist was from the Ba'athist-sympathizing Al-Baghdadiya, and is probably not a good representation of "all Iraqis".

Al-Baghdadiya TV is broadcast from Cairo and has a notable pro-Ba'athist and pro-Saddam bias, as it has interviewed members of the defunt Republican Guard and spoken favorably of Saddam's defense team. Madtom even has a link to self-proclaimed member of the "Iraqi Resistance" who claims the gentleman throw his shoes with "great dexterity". With the Ba'athists having their leaders captured, hanged, or living in exile, I suppose a shoe or two is the best uprising they could muster. Weak.

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