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Shoe thrower 'beaten in custody' .

Wessexman

Dorset Patriot
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BBC NEWS | Middle East | Shoe thrower 'beaten in custody'

Muntadar al-Zaidi has allegedly suffered a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding, his older brother, Dargham, told the BBC....

...Mr Zaidi threw his shoes at Mr Bush at a news conference, calling him "a dog".

....A spokesperson for the Iraqi military says the journalist is in good health and said the allegations were untrue.



If the allegations are true it is distressing and is quite an indication of the way "democracy" and "human rights" have been brought to Iraq.
 
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Having a journalist attacking a visiting Head of State, no matter how unpopular, is surely a national embarrassment. If someone in this country did that to the visting Head of State of a different country, I'd say they'd face a very high probability of being beaten while in custody, too.

That said... I also hope that the allegations are untrue, and that the Iraqi police are doing a better job of protecting their prisoners.
 
Having a journalist attacking a visiting Head of State, no matter how unpopular, is surely a national embarrassment. If someone in this country did that to the visting Head of State of a different country, I'd say they'd face a very high probability of being beaten while in custody, too.

So what? It's totally unacceptable that a prisoner gets beaten in custody, especially if he hasn't killed/raped anyone.

Furthermore, what he did was not a "real" attack, it was just symbolic, like Noel Godin who throws pie on famous people who deserve it

YouTube - Sarko se fait entarter ! ! ! Par l'entarteur...

YouTube - Bill Gates in België

YouTube - Noel Godin : l'entarteur

If you think this guy would get beaten in custody if he was in the USA, then you should not be very proud...

I heard this was a false claim.

where?
 
Saw it on CNN last night.


Also the brother who is making the claims keeps changing his story. now its a rifle butt to the head.
 
So what? It's totally unacceptable that a prisoner gets beaten in custody, especially if he hasn't killed/raped anyone.

Might be totally unacceptable-- I happen to agree with you-- but I'm willing to bet that there ain't a country on the planet where it isn't a common occurrence, especially when the prisoner has done something either particularly heinous or particularly embarrassing for the local authorities.

Furthermore, what he did was not a "real" attack, it was just symbolic, like Noel Godin who throws pie on famous people who deserve it

Pretty sure he'd have gotten beaten for throwing a pie, too. Assuming he'd been allowed to smuggle a pie into the press conference.

One simply does not throw things at Heads of State. It is grossly undignified, and a completely pointless and ineffectual means of registering one's grievances.
 
-- Also the brother who is making the claims keeps changing his story --

There are separate claims that Muntazer al-Zaidi was injured during the arrest and that is also where one claim of the rifle butt to the head comes from.

Another brother (Muntadar al-Zaidi) said on Al-Baghdadia television, "Zaid’s employer, that he had spoken by telephone with his brother and that he told him “thank God, I am in good health”. “I felt from his voice that he is good health,” Maitham al-Zaidi said."
 
There are separate claims that Muntazer al-Zaidi was injured during the arrest and that is also where one claim of the rifle butt to the head comes from.

Another brother (Muntadar al-Zaidi) said on Al-Baghdadia television, "Zaid’s employer, that he had spoken by telephone with his brother and that he told him “thank God, I am in good health”. “I felt from his voice that he is good health,” Maitham al-Zaidi said."



So what is the issue?
 
One simply does not throw things at Heads of State. It is grossly undignified, and a completely pointless and ineffectual means of registering one's grievances.
Depends who it is. What about China's head of state? Or North Korea? George Bush isn't some visting head of state will little links to the country.

I don't think the action was helpful or useful but I also don't condemn it. Apparently this guy was kidnapped twice by insurgents, that would piss me off -- between being very thankful I was still alive.

If he'd done it to Blair I think I would have bought him a beer, non-alcoholic of course.
 
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Depends who it is. What about China's head of state? Or North Korea? George Bush isn't some visting head of state will little links to the country.

Same standard. One does not throw things at visiting Heads of State; that is not how civilized people air their grievances, and that sort of behavior creates international incidents-- that can lead to repercussions for your country.
 
Same standard. One does not throw things at visiting Heads of State; that is not how civilized people air their grievances, and that sort of behavior creates international incidents-- that can lead to repercussions for your country.

Is the head of China or North Korea a civilised person?

I would not condemn the throwing of shoes or the likes against all, it is understandable in some cases.

I don't mind Bush as man personally, he seems like a nice guy, even if I despise his policies. But I can understand this mans anger and would not condemn him, it almost seems rather comic really to me. As I said if it were Blair I might buy him a beer.
 
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One does not throw things at visiting Heads of State
Also who counts as a head of state.

Would the EU president or grand wanker or whatever they call him these days be okay?

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And what about Brown, he isn't actually our head of state.
 
Is the head of China or North Korea a civilised person?

Yes. We may not agree with their policies, but they are civilized.

But even if they were not, does it matter? As a visiting Head of State, they would be in this country on diplomatic business with our government-- business that assaulting them would surely disrupt, to neither of our country's benefit. Such an action would embarrass both your government and your countrymen, and yourself if you were possessed of any sense of dignity. (Not to imply that you are lacking such. I mean in general.)

I think I would be terribly ashamed to discover that a member of my family had thrown something at a person in this country on diplomatic business-- especially a high-ranking official.
 
Yes. We may not agree with their policies, but they are civilized.

But even if they were not, does it matter? As a visiting Head of State, they would be in this country on diplomatic business with our government-- business that assaulting them would surely disrupt, to neither of our country's benefit. Such an action would embarrass both your government and your countrymen, and yourself if you were possessed of any sense of dignity. (Not to imply that you are lacking such. I mean in general.)

I think I would be terribly ashamed to discover that a member of my family had thrown something at a person in this country on diplomatic business-- especially a high-ranking official.

It depends, Bush is quite unpopular on a global scale. Someone would probably be shouted beers if they did it to him in Aussieland.
 
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It depends, Bush is quite unpopular on a global scale. Someone would probably be shouted beers if they did it to him in Aussieland.

If this is true, I think it says far more about Australia than it would about President Bush, and I am afraid that what it says about Australia isn't particularly nice.
 
If this is true, I think it says far more about Australia than it would about President Bush, and I am afraid that what it says about Australia isn't particularly nice.

It's not just in Australia that Bush is incredibly unpopular.

This guy is a hero in his country.
 
Who beat him up? I thought he was the new hero of the Arab world? I thought all the Arabs think it's awesome to throw shoes at Bush.

I hope our new president tells all those people to piss off.

Bush got rid of the one man that killed more Muslims than any other man in history.

We helped the Muslims in the Balkans. We tried to help them in Somalia. We helped them in Kuwait. We helped them in Afghanistan.

We have lost 4,000 soldiers in Iraq trying to keep those savages from killing each other after we liberated them from a complete madman.

Seriously, who needs them?
 
Who beat him up? I thought he was the new hero of the Arab world? I thought all the Arabs think it's awesome to throw shoes at Bush.

I hope our new president tells all those people to piss off.

Bush got rid of the one man that killed more Muslims than any other man in history.

We helped the Muslims in the Balkans. We tried to help them in Somalia. We helped them in Kuwait. We helped them in Afghanistan.

We have lost 4,000 soldiers in Iraq trying to keep those savages from killing each other after we liberated them from a complete madman.

Seriously, who needs them?

you need their oil and you don't need to call them "savages"
 
you need their oil and you don't need to call them "savages"

I live in Louisiana. I don't need anybody's oil.

I believe calling your enemies savages is still appropriate in the US.
 
I live in Louisiana. I don't need anybody's oil.

I believe calling your enemies savages is still appropriate in the US.

so why do you mind when Iraqis call their ennemies "dogs"?
 
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Shoe thrower 'beaten in custody'

Muntadar al-Zaidi has allegedly suffered a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding, his older brother, Dargham, told the BBC....

...Mr Zaidi threw his shoes at Mr Bush at a news conference, calling him "a dog".

....A spokesperson for the Iraqi military says the journalist is in good health and said the allegations were untrue.



If the allegations are true it is distressing and is quite an indication of the way "democracy" and "human rights" have been brought to Iraq.

So again another libbie blames America for what is first a RUMOR and second he deserves 5-10 years in prison for insulting a foreign dignitary whether it was an American or Lithuanian. He is a journalist, not a street fighter. GUILTY!
 
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Shoe thrower 'beaten in custody'

Muntadar al-Zaidi has allegedly suffered a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding, his older brother, Dargham, told the BBC....

...Mr Zaidi threw his shoes at Mr Bush at a news conference, calling him "a dog".

....A spokesperson for the Iraqi military says the journalist is in good health and said the allegations were untrue.



If the allegations are true it is distressing and is quite an indication of the way "democracy" and "human rights" have been brought to Iraq.

Odd, Here it shows a study that 10% of the male population in Australian prisons suffer from rape, many on a daily basis. I guess that is quite an indication of the way "Democracy" and "human rights" factor into Australia.

Actually it doesn't, and neither does it here. Taking a single incident, espicially one that while regrettable is hardly something unheard of in ANY civilized country in this world, and trying to make a claim with it is ignorant. Furthermore, doing it without proper historical scope is equally ignorant. IF this story is true, and so far there's no proof of it at all, it is regrettable but is much better than the likely death sentence for him and his family under the previously regime. To me, the fact that didn't happen is signs of progress. If he was beaten, it is a sign that there's still progress that needs to be done (as there is everywhere, be it Iraq, the U.S., or Australia).

However honestly the posts in this thread seems to be that people who always enjoy bashing America deciding to glom onto a story that has little to no credible evidence backing it just to get on the "America Sucks, the Iraq War is a failure!" bandwagon
 
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