12/16/08-TWD's Agenda For The Day: Shoe Thrower Tortured, Bush Refusing To Do The Right Thing, Again

Photo from the BBC

So much for being an advocate of free speech. Instead of giving his blessings that Muntader al-Zaidi be released after throwing a shoe at him, the lame duck George W.Bush has not said a word about that. And because of his, in my mind, chilling silence, al-Zaidi is getting tortured and beaten, badly. This is scary.

The brother of the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush has said that the reporter has been beaten in custody.

Muntadar al-Zaidi has allegedly suffered a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding, his older brother, Dargham, told the BBC.

Mr Zaidi threw his shoes at Mr Bush at a news conference, calling him "a dog".

The government however said that's not the case:

A spokesperson for the Iraqi military says the journalist is in good health and said the allegations were untrue.

But other reports say the opposite:

Raed in the Middle reports:

Albaghdadia, the TV channel where the Iraqi Journalist Montather Al-Zeidi works, reports that an Iraqi MP (Ms. Zainab Al-Kanani) informed them that Montather’s hand was broken in jail.

This confirms a lot of reports and rumors about Montather being subject to torture while the Iraqi authorities are interrogating and detaining him in some unspecified location.

Alarming and sad. And it makes it worse that Bush, this man so upbeat on bring "democracy" to Iraq, and having his group of parrots repeat that same baseless point, doesn't even show any hint of compassion and understanding in requesting that this man be released from prison. In fact, I bet he requested of Maliki to not release him behind the scenes until he felt enough time had passed for doing so.

Yet no one in the media will ask him that question right now, and no one didn't even dare to ask black-eyed Perino that, although Helen Thomas set her straight again today:

And if you didn't regurgitate enough from that video, you will certainly do more when you here Uncle Tom specialist Juan Williams utter his stupidity from last night:

Today's agenda focuses on the sick denial of not only Perino and Williams, but on how soulless and petty Bush really is. Because if he truly gave a damn, that man would be free right now instead of having any of his body parts thrashed. And what does this also say about Maliki, and how their government has turned the incident into al-Maidi throwing the show at him? Sounds like the next dictator in Iraq is already in place, with that wonderful cover of "democracy" of course.

Oh, and those wonders of democracy he and his power abusing fools have brought over to Iraq? Yes, these following wonders:

* Four million Iraqis regularly cannot buy enough food.
* 70 per cent are without adequate water supplies, compared to 50 per cent in 2003.
* 28 per cent of children are malnourished, compared to 19 per cent before the 2003 invasion.
* 92 per cent of Iraqi children suffer learning problems, mostly due to the climate of fear.

And to top it all off:

4 million Iraqis displaced since war began

Yes, those wonders.

The agenda's Pending Schedule will come up eventually.