Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Bush Shoe-Thrower trial Resumes, Ahmadinejad Gets a Shoe and Hat thrown at him!

I must have missed this one!:
The trial of Muntader al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who was thrust into the global spotlight after throwing his shoes at George W Bush, resumes on Thursday in Baghdad after a three-week break.

The hearing against the 30-year old journalist opened at the Iraq Central Criminal Court on February 19, but was adjourned 90 minutes later to determine the nature of the former US president's visit to Iraq on December 14.

"We have postponed the trial so that we can contact the prime minister's office to find out if the visit of the ex-American president Bush was an official visit or not," Judge Abdulamir Hassan al-Rubai had said...

Zaidi is charged with aggression against a foreign head of state during an official visit and the issue of whether Bush's visit was actually official could affect the outcome of the trial...
Apparently, since the president was only there on a farewell visit, it could be deemed as an unofficial visit, and thus, affect the outcome of the trial.

Of course, this a totally lame and senseless argument, but the judge is obviously looking for a way to free this guy, or at least reduce his jail-time to the bare minimum.

And here's another shoe-throwing incident that I seemed to have missed:
A shoe was recently hurled at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while he was in the city of Urmia, an Iranian Web site has reported.

The incident in the Iranian city was an apparent imitation of a similar attack on former U.S. president George Bush in Iraq last year.

Urmia News, the Iranian site, reported that Ahmadinejad was in a car en route to an election rally when the shoe was thrown. Ahmadinejad was traveling to a local stadium where he was meant to deliver a speech ahead of upcoming presidential elections...
Hey, does this mean that Ahmadinejad is a "shoo-in" to win the election?....
According to the report, a hat was also thrown at the Iranian president before his convoy sped away from the scene.
Looks like someone else has decided to throw his hat into the ring.....
The incident was not reported by Iran's major news outlets. But it has been widely commented upon in the Islamic Republic's blogosphere, which is viewed as one of the most developed in the world. It is one of the key tools for disseminating information that contradicts the position of the regime. The government controls Iran's traditional media...

Urmia News said the incident occurred after riots erupted in the city in response to an incident in which an elderly pedestrian was harmed by Ahmadinejad's convoy. He had reportedly sought to hand the Iranian president a letter...
Don't expect the Liberal blogosphere to applaud this shoe-thrower the same way they applauded Muntader al-Zaidi.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is well-respected and highly revered among the Liberal elite here in the US. They wouldn't even dream of mocking him. It would be both a breach of etiquette and a violation of their moral principles!

No comments: