Shoe hurling the International sign of Protest

[LatinAmericanview]

This story is brought to us by our friends at Jpost and the US Military- Brainwashing people all over the world. Thanks Guys!

Protesters laid a black wreath with an imprint of a shoe at the gate of the US Embassy in Ankara on Saturday in a show of support for a jailed Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during a news conference in Iraq. About 50 demonstrators, some carrying shoes mounted on sticks, protested the arrest of Muntadhar al-Zeidi and called for his release. "Bye bye Bush the dog," read the sign on the wreath. The group, who called themselves the Turkey Youth Union, said in a statement that detaining a "hero" was unacceptable.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite? ... 2FShowFull

HERE IS A LITTLE INFO ON THE TURKEY YOUTH UNION:

Turkey Youth Union-Türkiye Gençlik Birli?i (TGB) is a nation-wide political youth organization founded in 19 May 2006. It is comprised of 65 student clubs-societies from over 40 Turkish universities. Turkey Youth Union is an advocate of the principles of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Turkish independence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_Youth_Union

[LatinAmericanview]

SAME STORY MINUS THE THE TURK YOUTH UNION

AMMAN, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of people on Saturday gathered in Jordan's capital of Amman, calling for the release of the Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at U.S. president George W. Bush.

    They chanted "Down, down with Bush," and praised Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist, as a "hero," calling for his release.

    Protesters held up banners including a picture of U.S. President George W. Bush with a real shoe fixed on it, picture showing Bush dodging a flying shoe and even pictures of late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

    At a news conference Bush held last Sunday in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, reporter of Baghdadiya television, jumped and threw his two shoes one by one at Bush and called him a "dog" in Arabic.

    Bush ducked and narrowly missed being struck, but the journalist was wrestled by several security members to the floor and then dragged out of the hall as he was screaming.

[LatinAmericanview]

Jordanians rally to demand shoe tosser's(NICE WORD PLAY GUYS) release

AMMAN, Jordan: Hundreds of Jordanians are demanding the release of an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush.

About 300 people gathered Saturday in Amman, shouting "God is great," and "Down, down with Bush."

They praised the Iraqi journalist, Muntadhar al-Zeidi, yelling, "Al-Zeidi is the hero," and burned a portrait of Bush.

Al-Zeidi has been in custody since the incident last Sunday when he hurled his shoes at Bush during a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Footage of the incident has been replayed repeatedly in the Middle East. Al-Zeidi has turned into a folk hero in a region that has long been angry with Bush's invasion of Iraq and his policies toward the region.

[LatinAmericanview]

Please note the number of protesters varies in each story.

[LatinAmericanview]

BAGHDAD – Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki moved Monday to undermine the popularity of the Iraqi who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush, saying the journalist confessed that the mastermind of the attack was a militant known for slitting his victims' throats.

Tensions over the case also spilled into parliament, as a move to oust the abrasive Sunni speaker delayed a key decision on whether non-U.S. foreign troops will be allowed to stay in Iraq beyond New Year's Eve.

Al-Maliki said that in a letter of apology to him, M.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081222/ap_ ... tbo5IEtbAF

[LatinAmericanview]

Secret Service faces questions after Bush shoe incident

Agency officials say they are reviewing the Iraq assault but believe agents responded appropriately. Others say minor changes in procedure are likely.
By Julian E. Barnes
December 16, 2008
Reporting from Washington -- A day after President Bush was nearly struck in the head by flying footwear at a Baghdad news conference, U.S. Secret Service officials faced questions Monday about how an Iraqi television reporter was able to hurl not one but two shoes at the president without the agents responsible for protecting him being able to move into the line of fire.

Secret Service officials said they were reviewing the episode, including the procedures used by agents guarding Bush during his unannounced visit to Baghdad. But officials said they believed the agents reacted appropriately in a situation where all those present in the room had already undergone intensive security screening.

Nonetheless, some security experts and former agents who reviewed tapes of the assault predicted that it would lead to minor changes to improve procedures for safeguarding the president.

"They will probably make a decision to have more close-in agents, right around the president," said Ronald T. Williams, a former Secret Service agent. "They will make some adjustments, so if a shoe is thrown again, they can intercept it, or at least give the president cover."

Secret Service officials said their agents began moving as soon as the first shoe was thrown. Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the agency, said the videos show agents quickly moving in from the sides of the room.

"We think the response was appropriate," he said. "You can see agents reacting after the first shoe was thrown."

Everyone at the news conference, Donovan said, had already passed through several layers of security and had been searched multiple times. But he added that the agency would nevertheless examine its performance.

"We are our own harshest critics," he said. "This will be reviewed to see if there is anything we can do differently. We always strive to make ourselves better as an agency."

Patrick J. Lennon, another former agent, said that after he saw the video, his impression was that the agents seemed to react more slowly than he would have expected.

"I thought they would have responded after the first shoe," Lennon said.

The agents guarding Bush were not able to immediately get in front of him because they were positioned at the side of the room, not beside him, as they would be if he was working a rope line, Lennon said. Luckily, he added, Bush moved quickly. What does this mean?

"Thank God, Bush apparently played a little dodge ball when he was younger," said Lennon, who heads a security consulting firm in Rockville, Md. "His reflexes are quick. I was proud of him."  ( a little humor- nice touch)

Joseph J. Funk, also a former agent, said that when he first watched a tape of the incident, he thought the agents should have reacted more quickly, at least fast enough to stop the second shoe. (expert opinion)

But, as he studied the video further, he changed his mind.

"In a perfect world, they would have been on the guy before he threw the first shoe," Funk said. "But after looking at the tapes, [the throws] were pretty quick, and they were one right after the other. I doubt any security force or any law enforcement could have reacted in time to stop the second shoe."

After the second shoe was thrown, the agents tackled the assailant, shoving him to the ground. (notice the wording- Agents and not SS)

Funk and other former agents praised the president's detail for not overreacting or shooting the shoe thrower.

Unless a hurled object has the potential to kill a president, agents will move to physically restrain the assailant rather than use deadly force, said Funk, whose Severna Park, Md., firm, U.S. Safety & Security, helped provide protection to President-elect Barack Obama early in the campaign. (how do they know the shoe was not laced with poison?)

"Given the fact you are in a crowded room, the collateral damage would have been extensive," Funk said.

The Baghdad incident also illustrates other Secret Service training protocols. Tape of it shows how agents moved toward the president and other parts of the room as several tackled the Iraqi reporter, aided by other journalists and Iraqi security personnel. Williams, who now runs Talon Executive Services in Fountain Valley, said agents are trained that a first attacker could stage a diversion by hurling something -- like a shoe -- creating a clear, lethal shot for a second attacker.

"It is like playing zone defense," Williams said. "Not all agents are going to rush that guy. Because they are trained to watch for diversion."

Iraqi reporters attending the news conference were searched at least three times before entering, and their credentials had been screened. Both White House and Iraqi officials believe having bodyguards hovering around the president would have sent the wrong message.

"It would give the appearance that things are the same as Saddam's reign," Funk said.

Former agents acknowledged that it was nonetheless embarrassing for the agency that the reporter was able to throw two shoes at Bush. But they noted that ultimately there was no real threat.

"Would the service view this as embarrassing? Yes. Will they take steps in the future? Probably. But these kind of things do happen," Williams said.

"If he came in and was able to secret a weapon -- then we have a real, real problem," he said. ( this is the old double think- who would have thought that 19 Arabs could have used air planes as weapons...)

Barnes is a reporter in our Washington bureau.

mailto:julian.barnes@latimes.com">julian.barnes@latimes.com

[LatinAmericanview]

bullshit article


CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says an Iraqi journalist who tossed his shoes at President George W. Bush was courageous.

Chavez laughed heartily when asked about the incident on state television and called the incident "funny." Referring to the shoe-tosser, he said, "What courage!"

The leftist Venezuelan leader hedged those remarks, however, adding: "At least it didn't hit him, and it's not that one goes around supporting shoe-throwing or anything."

Chavez once famously called Bush "the devil" in a U.N. speech But he said Monday night that Bush "should be congratulated" because he still "has his reflexes." He also said the Iraqi journalist hadn't aimed well.