'The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former US President George W Bush says he was tortured by senior government officials while in jail.
Shortly after his release from nine months in a Baghdad prison, Muntadar al-Zaidi demanded an apology - and said he would name the officials later.
Iraqi officials told the BBC his claims should be investigated.
His protest last December made him a hero for many Arabs. He was convicted of assaulting a foreign leader.
Initially, he was sentenced to three years in jail.
But he had the term reduced to 12 months on appeal and was released three months early for good behaviour.
After his release on Tuesday he told journalists: "I am free again, but my homeland is still a prison."
Reuters news agency reported he was slurring his speech because of a missing tooth.
He went on to say he had suffered beatings, whippings, electric shocks and simulated drowning at the hands of officials and guards.
"At the time that Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said on television that he could not sleep without being reassured on my fate... I was being tortured in the worst ways, beaten with electric cables and iron bars," he said.
He demanded an apology from Mr Maliki and said he would name the officials who tortured him in due course.
He also said he feared US intelligence services regarded him as an "insurgent revolutionary" and would "spare no effort" in a bid to kill him.
"I want to warn all my relatives and people close to me that these services will use all means to trap and try to kill and liquidate me either physically, socially or professionally," he said.
His allegations of abuse mirror claims made earlier by his family, who said he had been beaten, suffering a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding.
The Iraqi military earlier denied the allegations, but following Zaidi's news conference Sami Al Askari, an adviser to Mr Maliki, said his torture claims should be investigated.
Zaidi's family has been preparing to throw a party for him.
He has reportedly received offers of money, jobs and even marriage from across the Arab world.
His relatives say he was offered a golden horse by the Emir of Qatar.
When news of his release filtered through to his family's home in Baghdad, there was an eruption of celebration, with women dancing and singing.
The shoe-throwing incident came during a joint news conference between Mr Bush and Mr Maliki.
As he threw the shoes, Zaidi shouted: "This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog.
"This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."
In an interview afterwards, Mr Bush insisted he did not harbour any ill feeling about it.
"It was amusing - I've seen a lot of weird things during my presidency, and this may rank up there as one of the weirdest," he said.
of course its remotely accurate. we know 11 people died. that is a fact. so take 11 dead and make an honest assumption about how many more people could have possibly died. its not 100%, but its as close as you can get to be accurate.
how is a survey of 1500 people out of a country of almost 30,000,000 remotely accurate?
what is an honest assumption?
what if an incident isn't reported in any media?
what about the people that die from injuries after the incident is reported?
every source has their methodology of which each one can be picked thru easily ... there are no accurate numbers - to think otherwise does not make any common sense ...
my only beef is with those on this board who do. as you know, there are many. at least you seem to have a grasp on the difficult reality of the situation.
Both the authors of the Lancet report and the ORB report have stated that they regard their findings as an underestimation.
http://www.truthout.org/article/burying-lancet-report
'...there is one issue that does cast doubt on its findings. This is the decision to exclude the cluster in Fallujah from its computations due to the much higher number of deaths that were reported there (even though the survey was completed before the widely reported assault on the city in November 2004). Roberts wrote, in a letter to the Independent, "Please understand how extremely conservative we were: we did a survey estimating that 285,000 people have died due to the first 18 months of invasion and occupation and we reported it as at least 100,000."...
A second feature of the epidemiologists' findings that has not been sufficiently explored is the one suggested above by Michael O'Toole. Since their report establishes that aerial assault and bombardment is the leading cause of violent death in Iraq and, since a direct hit by a 500 pound Mark 82 bomb will render most houses uninhabitable, any survey that disregards damaged, uninhabited houses is sure to underreport deaths. This should be taken into account by any follow-up studies...'
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Surfing The far side of THE Sombrero Galaxy Posts: 18,200
September 19, 2009 "The Guardian" -- I am free. But my country is still a prisoner of war. There has been a lot of talk about the action and about the person who took it, and about the hero and the heroic act, and the symbol and the symbolic act. But, simply, I answer: what compelled me to act is the injustice that befell my people, and how the occupation wanted to humiliate my homeland by putting it under its boot.
I am not a hero. But I have a point of view. I have a stance. It humiliated me to see my country humiliated; and to see my Baghdad burned, my people killed. Thousands of tragic pictures remained in my head, pushing me towards the path of confrontation. The scandal of Abu Ghraib. The massacre of Falluja, Najaf, Haditha, Sadr City, Basra, Diyala, Mosul, Tal Afar, and every inch of our wounded land. I travelled through my burning land and saw with my own eyes the pain of the victims, and heard with my own ears the screams of the orphans and the bereaved. And a feeling of shame haunted me like an ugly name because I was powerless.
I'm sure we can see the frustration this man went through to do wat he did and to suffer the consequence of being tortured after his arrest. He says he's no hero and I agree.
The Iraqi man who threw shoes at President George W Bush says after release from
jail that he was tortured by senior government officials.
*We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
my only beef is with those on this board who do. as you know, there are many. at least you seem to have a grasp on the difficult reality of the situation.
exaggerate much? who are these ''many on this board'' you speak of?
just to help you out, the defitnition of many is:-
- constituting or forming a large number; numerous: many people.
- a large or considerable number of persons or things.
0
g under p
Surfing The far side of THE Sombrero Galaxy Posts: 18,200
of course its remotely accurate. we know 11 people died. that is a fact. so take 11 dead and make an honest assumption about how many more people could have possibly died. its not 100%, but its as close as you can get to be accurate.
how is a survey of 1500 people out of a country of almost 30,000,000 remotely accurate?
what is an honest assumption?
what if an incident isn't reported in any media?
what about the people that die from injuries after the incident is reported?
every source has their methodology of which each one can be picked thru easily ... there are no accurate numbers - to think otherwise does not make any common sense ...
*We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
Comments
Iraq shoe thrower 'was tortured'
Tuesday, 15 September 2009 14:57 UK
'The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former US President George W Bush says he was tortured by senior government officials while in jail.
Shortly after his release from nine months in a Baghdad prison, Muntadar al-Zaidi demanded an apology - and said he would name the officials later.
Iraqi officials told the BBC his claims should be investigated.
His protest last December made him a hero for many Arabs. He was convicted of assaulting a foreign leader.
Initially, he was sentenced to three years in jail.
But he had the term reduced to 12 months on appeal and was released three months early for good behaviour.
After his release on Tuesday he told journalists: "I am free again, but my homeland is still a prison."
Reuters news agency reported he was slurring his speech because of a missing tooth.
He went on to say he had suffered beatings, whippings, electric shocks and simulated drowning at the hands of officials and guards.
"At the time that Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said on television that he could not sleep without being reassured on my fate... I was being tortured in the worst ways, beaten with electric cables and iron bars," he said.
He demanded an apology from Mr Maliki and said he would name the officials who tortured him in due course.
He also said he feared US intelligence services regarded him as an "insurgent revolutionary" and would "spare no effort" in a bid to kill him.
"I want to warn all my relatives and people close to me that these services will use all means to trap and try to kill and liquidate me either physically, socially or professionally," he said.
His allegations of abuse mirror claims made earlier by his family, who said he had been beaten, suffering a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding.
The Iraqi military earlier denied the allegations, but following Zaidi's news conference Sami Al Askari, an adviser to Mr Maliki, said his torture claims should be investigated.
Zaidi's family has been preparing to throw a party for him.
He has reportedly received offers of money, jobs and even marriage from across the Arab world.
His relatives say he was offered a golden horse by the Emir of Qatar.
When news of his release filtered through to his family's home in Baghdad, there was an eruption of celebration, with women dancing and singing.
The shoe-throwing incident came during a joint news conference between Mr Bush and Mr Maliki.
As he threw the shoes, Zaidi shouted: "This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog.
"This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."
In an interview afterwards, Mr Bush insisted he did not harbour any ill feeling about it.
"It was amusing - I've seen a lot of weird things during my presidency, and this may rank up there as one of the weirdest," he said.
And what about all the thousands who are incinerated in U.S air strikes when 500 1b bombs are dropped on their homes?
do you hold the one million dead number as fact?
nope
ok fair enough.
my only beef is with those on this board who do. as you know, there are many. at least you seem to have a grasp on the difficult reality of the situation.
http://www.truthout.org/article/burying-lancet-report
'...there is one issue that does cast doubt on its findings. This is the decision to exclude the cluster in Fallujah from its computations due to the much higher number of deaths that were reported there (even though the survey was completed before the widely reported assault on the city in November 2004). Roberts wrote, in a letter to the Independent, "Please understand how extremely conservative we were: we did a survey estimating that 285,000 people have died due to the first 18 months of invasion and occupation and we reported it as at least 100,000."...
A second feature of the epidemiologists' findings that has not been sufficiently explored is the one suggested above by Michael O'Toole. Since their report establishes that aerial assault and bombardment is the leading cause of violent death in Iraq and, since a direct hit by a 500 pound Mark 82 bomb will render most houses uninhabitable, any survey that disregards damaged, uninhabited houses is sure to underreport deaths. This should be taken into account by any follow-up studies...'
By Muntazer al-Zaidi
I am no hero. I just acted as an Iraqi who witnessed the pain and bloodshed of too many innocents.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf ... e23535.htm
I'm sure we can see the frustration this man went through to do wat he did and to suffer the consequence of being tortured after his arrest. He says he's no hero and I agree.
The Iraqi man who threw shoes at President George W Bush says after release from
jail that he was tortured by senior government officials.
For more details: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
just to help you out, the defitnition of many is:-
- constituting or forming a large number; numerous: many people.
- a large or considerable number of persons or things.
War is hell, just little boys destroying an ant hill....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFMPMo7p90
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)