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December 22, 2008
The unreported - real story - about that shoe thrower and the forces behind him
Topics: IraqIt turns out that the Iraqi journalist who launched his two shoes against U.S. President George Bush while calling him "dog", Muntazar al Zaidi, is a controversial militant, and the forces behind his action can be traced to Iran:Walid Phares writes:
[...] Dr. Abdel Khaliq Hussein, writing in Elaph accused al Zaidi of being a "friend of the terrorists." Furthermore, along with other analysts, Hussein said the "shoe thrower" used to know about the "terrorist attacks before they took place and managed to be at the location beforehand." These are serious accusations against a person who was made into an icon of "Arab pride" by the Jihadi media machine. Furthermore, Hussein wrote that al Zaidi fabricated his abduction story last year to get "maximum publicity." One can see a pattern here. Maybe President Bush's instincts were right.
In the daily al Shaq al Awsat, another observer wrote that al Zaidi is a Sadrist. Others disagree and describe him as radical opportunist. Nidal Neaissi, also writing in Elaph, reminded his readers of an historical precedent in Bedouin history: a well known greedy man, Abi Qassem al Tamburi was always trying to get rid of his shoe by throwing it against well known people, attracting the support (and more) of their enemies. Too many comments about the so-called "shoe hero" have appeared in the Arab media - unread in the West - leaving us with one conclusion. The man had a plan for his shoe: a major show. And it worked.
The Force behind the Shoe Thrower
It gets better when you investigate the organization paying his salary and expenses. Al Baghdadiya TV, based in Cairo, is owned by another controversial figure in the murky world of Middle Eastern media: Abdel Hussein Shaaban, an Iraqi Shia from Najaf and ex-Communist. According to Iraqi opposition sources based in London, Shaaban was an operative for Saddam, tasked with discrediting the Baathist leader's critics around the world. Obviously it comes with payroll, according to the same sources.
But more recent accusations leveled by media experts in the region claim that al Baghdadiya TV, like dozens of other recipients, are getting significant funding from the Iranian regime. Military expert W. Thomas Smith, Jr., writing in World Defense Review has described the huge propaganda operation unleashed by Tehran directly, and via its network in Beirut, to "influence" Arab and Western media and to direct them against the regime's foes.
Blasting George Bush, and more importantly his project of "spreading Democracy", is high on Iran's list but also on many other regimes' agendas. An article by Ali Al Gharash titled "Shoes Terrify Regimes Now" shows that a consensus exists within the region's establishment to demolish the image of the man who dared (despite the failure of U.S. bureaucracy) to "do it," that is to tear down their wall of radical ideologies. The shoe thrower was clearly on a mission to do just that by striking at the "head" of the enemy with his pair of shoes.
The Making of a Jihadi Hero
(Only) Minutes after the incident took place and was captured by the media feed and aired worldwide, a snowball flurry of releases, special shows with commentators - gathered too fast for the circumstance - were on the airwaves. Interestingly al Baghdadiya TV issued - faster than the speed of light - a long press release calling for struggle. Minutes after, a vast magma of satellite channel sympathizers of Jihadism, and of sites virulently anti-democracy, exploded with incitement and calls for mobilization - and some were even as provocative as characterizing the ballistic exercise by al Zaidi as an "act of Jihad."
Much more on the story at Political Mavens ....
Posted by Hyscience at December 22, 2008 11:39 AM
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