Iraq shoe thrower sentenced to three years in jail BAGHDAD (Reuters) – An Iraqi reporter who hurled his shoes at former President George W. Bush was convicted of attempting to assault a foreign leader on Thursday and jailed for three years, dismaying many Iraqis who regard him as a hero. Muntazer al-Zaidi, 30, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, told the Baghdad court: "What I did was a natural reaction for the crimes committed against the Iraqi people." Outside the courtroom, wails erupted from Zaidi's family and other supporters when they heard the verdict. One of his brothers fainted and his sister Ruqaiya burst into tears, shouting: "Down with Maliki, the agent of the Americans." ......... http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090312/wl_nm/us_iraq_shoethrower_verdict This shows how "democratic and free Iraq is now". Instead of bringing the war criminal bush on trial they put in prison the one WHO HAS ALL THE LEGAL RIGHTS TO SHOW RESISTENCE AGAINST THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS COUNTRY'S DESTRUCTION. Another thing a may add: The majority of Irakis want to decorate Muntazer al-Zaidi with medals, but the order from US is something completely different.... I suspect fights are on the way to defend the Muntazer's rights to fight the trully illigal occupation of Iraq.
Can't throw a shoe at a world leader and get away with it. Doesn't matter how much you dislike him or how evil you think he is.
Ha, ha what a logic ....? Killing of innocent Iraqis is OK for you right? Hitler was a world leader too.... Tell us please: Did you support Bush? I know the answer already. .... the one you support brought one of the worst US Economic recessions in history. Anyway you know that you're right (always) as usual, just like your beloved war criminal bush.
No I did not support bush. I said that you can't throw a shoe at a world leader and get away with it. Is Bush a convicted war criminal? ST12, quit banging that drum!
world leader ?? He is not a world leader.. he is just responsible for killing innocent Iraqis. The one who throw shoe get jailed, but the one who throw bombs is called a world leader..
Alright pal, is "president of the united states" better? Will that work for you guys? If you assault a dirty cop, you are going to go to jail. Is that "right" to some people? Well, no, but you are still going to go to jail.
I understand what touchAshley is saying. He's not condoning the sentence, but if a person tries to assault a world leader/president there are going to be consequences.
Perfectly right. As much as I dislike Obama I would never condon anyone throwing a shoe at him. Everyone deserves a certain amount of respect no matter how much you dislike them.
Three years, that's quite long for throwing a shoe. Guess it's a much bigger crime to throw a shoe at a world leader as mention before than a normal person. The verdict tells you something about the justice system. It just tells you who makes them.
I hate bush too, and 3 years is absolutely insane for throwing a shoe. I think it should be a little less then 1. But again even though the punishment is a bit nuts he still has to understand that you weren't gonna get away with it. Even if bush was a mass murderer it obviously was never gonna play in his favor. Its unfortunate but thats our lovely world.
Someone should throw a shoe at Putin. There are some here who would get all twisted trying to figure out their response.
I like the irony here. At least he and his tribe weren't wiped off, as opposed to what Saddam would've done. Don't get me wrong, I didn't like Bush or his policies, but to dis-respect and attack another country leader is a crime punishable in all countries - even Arabic countries, who will go to the extreme of killing a person than giving him three years jail time. This is a sign of Democratic improvement in Iraq. Peace,
Amaizing support for a war criminal, who is responsible for the killing of so many innocent people and many of you still believe he has the right of a respect like whe is an innocent person.... I can't have your "high morals" sorry.
Doesn't matter if he is a criminal or not. If the same thing happened to Hitler when he visited England during WWII, the same would happen to the assailant. You simply can not take matters into your own hands by attacking a foreign president and expect to get away with it, no matter if you think they are a war criminal or not. Peace,
Listen ST12 I understand your frustration and it is unfair that Bush is getting away scott free with out any war crimes or being held responsible for what he did. But its an unfair world out there unfortunately, but we have to deal with it in another way. Because clearly throwing a shoe does not work very well. What other way? I don't know.... Sometimes we must be patient and calculate our steps carefully. It sucks, its painful, and it takes a while but its the right way and the smartest way to do it.