'PRIME MINISTER AL-MALIKI ABORTS A MILITARY COUP;

BLOCKS THE FLYING TWINS OF 12/14'

[Al-Quds Al-Arabi, U.K.]

Iraqi News Agency, Iraq

The Journalist Who Lifted Iraq's New Years Spirits

"Muntadhar is a hero by any standard. On a personal and professional level, I felt great joy. In my book, anyone who can humiliate 'criminal Bush' is a colleague, journalist and professional in good standing. I feel like 'a bald woman who takes personal pride in the hair of her cousin.'"

By Talat Shannaa

Translated By Nicolas Dagher

December 19, 2008

Iraq - Iraqi News Agency - Original Article (Arabic)

If any President other than George Bush was the target of a shoe attack, he might have vanished from public view until the end of his mandate (and a cursed mandate it was, full of blood, death and slaughter). I say this because Bush isn't much liked by the majority of Americans, either, many of whom I have met under a variety of circumstances, and he surely attracts the hatred of all the world's noble Arabs and Muslims - except for his "clique" of mercenaries and followers of petty interests.

Our colleague Muntadhar al-Zaidi wanted to lift our end of the year spirits - and he confirmed to the president of the most powerful country in the world that Iraq possesses "shoes" of mass destruction. Perhaps now Bush will suffer from a troubled conscience after admitting the mistake he made due to "inaccurate intelligence" about Iraq possessing WMDs.

It seems that a pair of Muntadhar's shoes "waited" a long time before returning the humiliation that for the past several years, the U.S. President and his cronies have visited upon the Iraqi people [Editor's Note: This is a play on words. In Arabic, Muntadhar means the one who waits - and it is also the first name of Iraqi reporter Muntazar Al Zeidi].

The strangest part was that Bush wasn't at all angered or ashamed, as would normally occur at such an event. But others were embarrassed and saddened to see their leader and benefactor humiliated on TV screens, and yet to have no way of responding to the humiliation of "their master [Nouri al-Maliki] and the master of the "Black House" [President Bush].

Muntadhar is a hero by any standard. On a personal and professional level, I feel great joy. In my book, anyone who can humiliate "criminal Bush" is a colleague, journalist and professional in good standing. I feel like 'a bald woman who takes personal pride in the hair of her cousin."

Thank you my "long anticipated" colleague. You brought back some of our pride. At least you made us respect our shoes a bit more. And one never knows when we might need them again.

SEE ALSO ON THIS:

Sotal Iraq, Iraq: Shoe Attack a Throwback to the Era of Saddam Hussein

Al-Iraq News, Iraq: Baghdad Bids Bush Farewell ... With a Journalist's Shoes

Al-Iraq News, Iraq: The Hero Who Made Bush's Head a 'Playground for His Shoes'

El Khabar, Algeria: Iraq Invents Weapon for Rulers that Lie … 'The Nuclear Shoe'

The Daily Star, Lebanon: Bush's Record and the Shoes Heard 'Round the World

The Peoples' Daily, China: Behind the Scenes: The 'Attack of the Flying Shoes'

Guardian Unlimited, U.K.: How to Insult Bush Anywhere In the World

Financial Times, U.K.: Bush's 'Sole' is Bared

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