CodePink finds new hero in shoe-hurling Iraqi “journalist”

Their main hero President-elect Barack Obama being too busy primping for the Inauguration Ball to pay them any mind, CodePink has a new hero: shoe-throwing Iraqi “journalist” Muntadhar al Zeidi. Tossing their own going away party Sept. 24 from the Berkeley Marine Recruiting Center, CodePinkers came back today heaping praises on the Arab world’s latest folk hero. Members of the group and their hangers-on marched around the recruiting station, holding shoes in the air to show support for al Zeidi, who hurled both his shoes at President George W. Bush during Sunday’s news conference in Baghdad.

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Within hours of the shoe hurling incident, far left websites including [url=http://www.uruknet.com]http://www.uruknet.com[/url] ran stories by activists such as Layla Anwar who called Americans “dirty motherf--j--s”. In many Arab countries, showing the sole of one’s shoes, is considered a sign of extreme disrespect. The Lebanese Hezbollah issued a statement to the Beirut Offices of the Official Islamlic Republic News Agency, calling al-Zaidi a hero: “The brave move of Zeidi, the best title of which can be the goodbye kiss, was the loud cry of the Iraqi nations and the entire oppressed nations against occupation, oppression and injustice,” the Hezbollah statement said. Throwing shoes at the enemy gets you folk hero status from both Arabs and a fawning leftwing, including Queen of the Moonbats CodePink. “Organizers say the march is intended to show support for the Iraqi people who have been killed , tortured or maimed and U.S. soldiers who have died since the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq.” ([url=http://www.mercurynews.com]http://www.mercurynews.com[/url]. Dec. 17, 2008). Their media hype notwithstanding Code Pink shows no respect for courageous U.S. soldiers, and in fact, for more than a year picketed in front of the U.S. Marine recruiting center at 64 Shattuck Square in downtown Berkeley. They said repeatedly during that year that the Marines are not welcome in liberal, anti-war Berkeley and insisted that the center should shut its doors. “In January, the Berkeley city Council got involved when they called the U.S. Marines “uninvited and unwelcome intruders” and granted CodePink a permit waiver and a free parking space in front of the Marine center for the weekly protests. The move angered people across the country, who flooded City Hall with about 25,000 letters and emails. And that’s not to mention, the determined young men and women who continued to attend the center to sign up for the War in Iraq. CodePink wastes no time in demeaning the real heroes whose sacrifice give them the ability to protest and pay homage to a “journalist” who throws his shoes at the President. Their groupie worship of al Zeidi, whose supporters claimed sustained a broken arm and ribs as well as injuries to his eye and a leg after a beating by security services, is a joke. “The rumors about al-Zeidi being injured or hurt are baseless,” Interior Ministry spokesman Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf told the AP today. “You can check that when you see him in criminal court tomorrow morning.” Meanwhile a memo to security forces looking for answers to how a well-known activist could toss uninterrupted, not one but two shoes, at the President: According to Layla Anwar, whose story was posted in the Rome-based Uruknet.com, Sunday, Dec. 14, al-Zaidi slipped into the room as a late comer: “One of his colleagues confirmed that Muntather came to the press conference late, and his other colleagues from the same TV station had preceded him way before. This other colleague also confirmed that they had to stand for hours for stringent security checks before being allowed to enter the press hall.” Update:

Iraqi who threw shoes at Bush asks for pardon

Spokesman Yassin Majid says that in a letter sent Thursday to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki the journalist described his behavior as "an ugly act" and asked to be pardoned. Majid says that Muntadhar al-Zeidi in the letter recalls the kindness the prime minister once showed him during an interview in 2005 and asked for al-Maliki to show him kindness once again. Al-Zeidi, a correspondent for an Iraqi-owned television station based in Cairo, Egypt, could face two years imprisonment for insulting a foreign leader. More...

Iraqi judge: Shoe-tossing reporter was beaten

BAGHDAD (AP) - The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during a news conference was beaten afterward and had bruises on his face and around his eyes, a judge said Friday. More...