Iraqi Shoe-Thrower's Sentence Reduced.

BAGHDAD, April 7, 2009 (UPI)
Photo: Shoe-thrower Muntazer al-Zaidi. Photograph: STR/AFP/Getty
Muntadhar al-Zaidi's sentence for throwing his shoes at former U.S. President George W. Bush has been reduced to a year, his lawyer said Tuesday in Iraq.

A federal appeals court in Baghdad Monday reduced the iraqi journalist's sentence from three years, said Dhiaa al-Saadi, who had appealed the sentenced handed down last month by Iraq's Central Criminal Court.

Bush ducked and was not injured when al Zaidi, 30, threw his shoes during a press conference in Baghdad last December.

Al-Zaidi, who worked for al-Baghdadia TV, was convicted of assaulting a foreign head of state on an official visit to Iraq. Throwing shoes at someone is considered a serious insult in Middle East culture, CNN reported Tuesday.

The shoe-throwing incident made al-Zaidi a hero in the eyes of many critics of the Bush administration. Al-Zaidi now has a global fan base of supporters on the Internet social networking site Facebook, where one of the fan groups is called the "Shoe-Throwing Appreciation Society," CNN reported.

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guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 March 2009 12.05 GMT

by: Alexandra Topping

"Muntadar Al-Zaidi Awarded the US Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama" by: Ben Heine.

Profile: Muntazer al-Zaidi

Journalist who threw shoes at George Bush described as champion of 'poor and downtrodden victims of war'

Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi reporter sentenced to three years' jail this morning for throwing his shoes at the then US president George Bush during a Baghdad press conference, is a 30-year-old broadcast correspondent for the private al-Baghdadia TV station.

He was raised in Sadr City, a suburb of Baghdad, has a degree in communication from Baghdad University and began working as a reporter for al-Baghdadia in 2005. He is of Shia Muslim faith and single.

Zaidi was kidnapped by unknown assailants in November 2007 and badly beaten before being released. In January last year his apartment was searched and he was arrested by American troops. After being held overnight he was released with an apology.

Zaidi has been lauded throughout the Arab world for his actions, receiving support from his employer, and gaining cult status across the Middle East. Following his arrest, al-Baghdadia TV issued a statement demanding his release.

An online game, Sock and Awe inspired by his actions, has been played by thousands, with a total of 88,997,757 shoes hitting Bush in the face as of this morning.

After the incident, the journalist's brother, Udai al-Zaidi, said: "Thanks be to God, Muntazer's act fills Iraqi hearts with pride. I'm sure many Iraqis want to do what Muntazer did."

Another brother, Dhirgham, said Zaidi had been badly affected by what he had seen during the Iraq war. "He hates the American material occupation as much as he hates the Iranian moral occupation," he said.

Sami Ramadani, a political exile from Saddam Hussein's regime and a senior lecturer at London Metropolitan University, wrote in the Guardian that Zaidi "reported for al-Baghdadia on the poor and downtrodden victims of the US war. He was first on the scene in Sadr City and wherever people suffered violence or severe deprivation.

"He not only followed US Apache helicopters' trails of death and destruction, but he was also among the first to report every 'sectarian' atrocity and the bombing of popular market places. He let the victims talk first."

In February Zaidi told the Baghdad central criminal court that his actions were spontaneous, and he had only thrown his shoes after listening to Bush praise the "achievements" made in Iraq,

"While he was talking I was looking at all his achievements in my mind. More than a million killed, the destruction and humiliation of mosques, violations against Iraqi women, attacking Iraqis every day and every hour.

"A whole people are saddened because of his policy, and he was talking with a smile on his face – and he was joking with the prime minister and saying he was going to have dinner with him after the press conference.

"Believe me, I didn't see anything around me except Bush. I was blind to anything else. I felt the blood of the innocent people bleeding from beneath his feet and he was smiling in that way.

"And then he was going to have a dinner, after he destroyed one million martyrs, after he destroyed the country. So I reacted to this feeling by throwing my shoes. I couldn't stop the reaction inside me. It was spontaneous."

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LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

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Is Pasta a Weapon? Ask Secretary of State Clinton.

Lately, the State Department has been…um…fumbling for the right words to describe Israel's illegal blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip. Just look at the ludicrous exchange between a reporter and State Department spokesperson Robert Wood at a press briefing last week here.

Discussing whether pasta is a dual-use weapon might be funny were it not for the fact that Israel's illegal blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip is barely keeping 1.5 million people at survival levels.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged $900 million in U.S. aid at the International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Economy for the Reconstruction of Gaza.

At first glance, this pledge seems fair given that U.S. military aid to Israel was responsible for the destruction of an estimated $2 billion in Palestinian civilian infrastructure. But, look closer at the pledge, and you'll find that not one dollar is devoted to the reconstruction of the occupied Gaza Strip.

Instead, the money, if approved by Congress, will go towards humanitarian aid ($300 million), budgetary support for the Palestinian Authority ($200 million), and economic and institutional reforms in the West Bank ($400 million).

For details on the pledge package, please click here. Worse yet, in her speech to the donor's conference, Clinton made no mention of ending Israel's illegal military occupation of the Gaza Strip or lifting Israel's illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip. For the text of her remarks, please click here.

TAKE ACTION:

1. Contact Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by text or email by clicking here.

While traveling in the Middle East and Europe through Saturday, Clinton will be taking questions from the public. Ask your question by clicking here.

Here are some suggested questions for the Secretary of State, or write your own:

* UN Security Council Resolution 1860 "Calls for the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment." What are you doing to ensure that Israel complies with this resolution?

* President Obama stated that "Gaza's border crossings should be open to allow the flow of aid and commerce." What are you doing to end Israel's illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip?

* Rep. Dennis Kucinich has requested that the State Department investigate Israel's possible violations of the Arms Export Control Act during its recent war on Gaza. Could you please state what your department is doing to ensure that this investigation is conducted in an accurate and transparent manner?

* State Department spokesperson Robert Wood was unclear if the United States considers pasta a dual-use weapon. Could you state your opinion on whether Israel should be allowed to control what types of food Palestinians in the Gaza Strip eat?

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Former Israeli Air Force captain speaks out against Israel's attack on Gaza

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Israel's fait accompli in Gaza

Israel's fait accompli in Gaza
By: Eric S. Margolis, Al Jazeera
UPDATED ON: Monday, January 05, 2009, 12:43 Mecca time, 09:43 GMT
Photo: flickr user jaffa48 / Bajis Abu Atwaan, "israeli War crimes"

There are two completely different versions of what is currently happening in Gaza.

In the Israeli and North American press version, Hamas - 'Islamic terrorists' backed by Iran - have in an unprovoked attack fired deadly rockets on innocent Israel with the intent of destroying the Jewish state. North American politicians and the media say Israel "has the right to defend itself".

True enough. No Israeli government can tolerate rockets hitting its towns, even though the casualty totals have been less than the car crash fatalities registered during a single holiday weekend on Israel's roads.

The firing of the feeble, home-made al-Qassam rockets by Palestinians is both useless and counter-productive.

It damages their image as an oppressed people and gives right-wing Israeli extremists a perfect reason to launch more attacks on the Arabs and refuse to discuss peace.

Israel's supporters insist it has the absolute right to drop hundreds of tonnes of bombs on 'Hamas targets' inside the 360sq km Gaza Strip to 'take out the terrorists'.

Civilians suffer, says Israel, because the cowardly Hamas hide among them.

Actually, it is more like shooting fish in a barrel.

Omitting facts

As usual, this cartoon-like version of events omits a great deal of nuance and background. While firing rockets at civilians is a crime so, too, is the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which is an egregious violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions. According to the UN, most of Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinian refugees subsist near the edge of hunger. Seventy per cent of Palestinian children in Gaza suffer from severe malnutrition and psychological trauma. Medical facilities are critically short of doctors, personnel, equipment, and drugs. Gaza has quite literally become a human garbage dump for all the Arabs that Israel does not want. Gaza is one of the world's most-densely populated places, a vast outdoor prison camp filled with desperate people. In the past, they threw stones at their Israeli occupiers; now they launch home-made rockets. Call it a prison riot, writ large.

Eyeing the elections

When the so-called truce between Tel Aviv and Hamas expired on December 19, Israeli politicians were in the throes of preparing for the February 10 national elections. Israeli politics are playing a key role in this crisis. Ehud Barak, the defence minister and leader of the Labour party, and Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister and leader of the Kadima party, are trying to prove themselves tougher than Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line Likud party - and one another. Israel's elections are only six weeks away, and Likud was leading until the air raids on Gaza began. Kadima and Labour are now up in the polls. The heavy attacks on Gaza are also designed to intimidate Israel's Arab neighbours, and make up for Israel's humiliating 2006 defeat in Lebanon, which still haunts the country's politicians and generals.

A fait accompli

When the air raids on Gaza began, Barak said: "We have totally changed the rules of the game." He was right. By blitzing Hamas-run Gaza, Barak presented the incoming US administration with a fait accompli, and neatly checkmated the newest player in the Middle East Great Game - Barack Obama, the US president-elect - before he could even take a seat at the table.

The Israeli offensive into Gaza now looks likely to short-circuit any plans Obama might have had to press Israel into withdrawing to its pre-1967 borders and sharing Jerusalem.

This has pleased Israel's supporters in North America who have been cheering the war in Gaza and have been backing away from their earlier tentative support for a land-for-peace deal.

Israel's successes in having Western media portray the Gaza offensive as an 'anti-terrorist operation' will also diminish hopes of peace talks any time soon.

Obama inherits this mess in a few weeks. During the elections, Obama bowed to the Israel lobby, offering a new US carte blanche to Israel and even accepting Israel's permanent monopoly of all of Jerusalem.

As he concludes forming his cabinet, his Middle East team looks like it may be top-heavy with friends of Israel's Labour party.

Obama keeps saying he must remain silent on policy issues until George Bush, the outgoing US president, leaves office, but his staff appear happy to avoid having to make statements about Gaza that would antagonise Israel's American supporters.

Obama will take office facing a Middle East up in arms over Gaza and the entire Muslim world blaming the US for the carnage in Gaza.

Unless he moves swiftly to distance himself from the policies of the Bush administration, he will soon find himself facing the same problems and anger as the Bush White House.

Photo: jaffa48 -"Ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Hebron"

Arab deal killed

Israel's Gaza offensive is also likely to torpedo the current Saudi-sponsored peace plan, which had been backed by all members of the Arab League.

The plan, now likely defunct, had called for Israel to withdraw to its 1967 borders and share Jerusalem in exchange for full recognition and normalised relations with the Muslim world.

Arab governments will now be unable to sell the deal as they face a storm of criticism from their own people over their powerlessness to help the Palestinians of Gaza.

Egypt, in particular, is being widely accused of collaborating with Israel in further sealing off and isolating Gaza. It seems highly unlikely they will be able to advance a peace plan with Israel for now.

This is a bonus for right-wing Israelis, who have always been dead set against any withdrawal and strongly supported the attack on Gaza.

Other Israeli factions who were always lukewarm about the Saudi peace plan are now unlikely to reconsider it.

Israel's security establishment is committed to preventing the creation of a viable Palestinian state, and refuses to negotiate with Hamas. Unable to kill all of Hamas' men, Israel is slowly destroying Gaza's infrastructure around them, as it did to Yasser Arafat's PLO.

Israel's hardliners point to Gaza and claim that any Palestinian state on the West Bank would threaten their nation's security by firing rockets into Israel's heartland.

Mighty information machine

Israel is confident that its mighty information machine will allow it to weather the storm of worldwide outrage over its Biblical punishment of Gaza. Who remembers Israel's flattening of parts of the Palestinian city of Jenin, or the US destruction in Falluja, Iraq, or the Sabra and Shatilla massacres in Beirut?

Though the torment of Gaza is seen across the horrified Muslim world as a modern version of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising by Jews against the Nazis during World War Two, Western governments still appear bent on taking no action.

Though Israel's use of American weapons against Gaza violates the US Arms Export Control and Foreign Assistance Acts, the docile US Congress will remain mute.

Israel's assault on Gaza was clearly timed for America's interregnum between administrations and the year-end holidays, a well-used Israeli tactic.

Hamas refuses to recognise Israel as long as Israel refuses to recognise Hamas and the rights of millions of homeless Palestinian refugees.

It calls for a non-religious state to be created in Palestine, meaning an end to Zionism. Ironically, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder and late leader of Hamas, had spoken of a compromise with Tel Aviv shortly before he was assassinated by Israel in 2004.

An inherited mess

Israel's hopes that it can bomb Gazans into rejecting Hamas are as ill-conceived as its failed attempt in 2006 to blast Lebanon into rejecting Hezbollah.

The Fatah regime on the West Bank installed by the US and Israel after Yasser Arafat's suspicious death will be further discredited, leaving the militants of Hamas as the sole authentic voice of Palestinian nationalism.

Hamas, the militant but still democratically elected government of Gaza, is even less likely to compromise.

The Muslim world is in a rage. But so what? Stalin liked to say "the dogs bark, and the caravan moves on," and as long as the US gives Israel carte blanche, it can do just about anything it wants.

The tragedy of Palestine will thus continue to poison US relations with the Muslim world.

Those Americans who still do not understand why their nation was attacked on 9/11 need only look to Gaza, for which the US is now being blamed as much as Israel.

Unless Israel can make 5 to 7 million Palestinians disappear, it must find some way to co-exist with them. Israeli leaders on the centre and right continue to avoid facing this fact.

The brutal collective punishment inflicted on Gaza will likely strengthen Hamas and reverse any hopes of a Middle East peace in the coming years.

Eric S. Margolis is an author, syndicated foreign affairs columnist, broadcaster, and veteran war correspondent. His latest book is American Raj: America and the Muslim world.

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.