Don’t look behind the curtain

June 23, 2009 at 6:55 am (Anti-War, Oppress This!, Waging Peace)

Don’t notice the puppetmaster!  It takes away from the illusion of the show. 

I hope America stays out of this.  America can’t solve everybody’s problems.  It should not be the police of the world.  And the last time America got “involved” it led to reign of a brutal dictator and the Iranian Islamic Revolution.

Stay out of it!  (Wait, they’re already in it). 

Are Iran’s protests manufactured?

Yes, up to a one-and-a-half million protesters flooded the squares of Tehran but they represent a mere drop in the ocean out of a population of 66.5 million. Secondly, so far there has been no proof of vote-rigging.

Thirdly, it isn’t inconceivable that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gained 63.5 per cent of the ballot. Not only does he have a strong following among the poor, with 33 per cent of Iranians living below the poverty line, but in 2005 he received 62 per cent of votes while running against reformist candidate Mohammad Khatami.

As noted in a Financial Times editorial earlier this month, “Change for the poor means food and jobs, not a relaxed dress code or mixed recreation & Politics in Iran is a lot more about class war than religion”.

While the suspicion of opposition supporters is understandable, could there be anything in the government’s claims of meddling by the US and Britain? Although US President Barack Obama has taken a verbal back seat throughout, there are certainly numerous precedents.

A few examples of such US interference are Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, Georgia’s Rose Revolution and, of course, the CIA-backed overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian president in 1953.

The CIA’s record of attempting to change Latin American regimes is also well documented. Furthermore, in this particular case, the US has a very strong motive for fomenting turbulence in Tehran.

Former US assistant treasury secretary and award-winning columnist Paul Craig Roberts makes the case that the US may be escalating discontent in Iran in a recent column titled “Are the Iranian election protests another US orchestrated ‘Colour Revolution’?”

You may get the impression from Twitter that young Iranians are overwhelmingly in support of the protesters, but only a comparatively wealthy or educated third enjoy computer access.

Moreover, Mousavi began his campaign at a very late stage. In truth, though, we are unlikely ever to know the truth one way or the other.

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Turbulent Times

June 21, 2009 at 11:31 am (Anti-War, Waging Peace)

May our prayers and thoughts go out to the people of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

It seems like the whole world is catching hell. 

Are You Ready for war with a Demonized Iran?  by Paul Craig Roberts. 

The U.S. media’s demonization of Ahmadinejad itself demonstrates American ignorance. The President of Iran is not the ruler.  He is not the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.  He cannot set policies outside the boundaries set by Iran’s rulers, the ayatollahs who are not willing for the Iranian Revolution to be overturned by American money in some color-coded “revolution.”

Iranians have a bitter experience with the United States government.  Their first democratic election, after emerging from occupied and colonized status in the 1950s, was overturned by the U.S. government.  The U.S. government installed in place of the elected candidate a dictator who tortured and murdered dissidents who thought Iran should be an independent country and not ruled by an American puppet.

The U.S. “superpower” has never forgiven the Iranian Islamic ayatollahs for the Iranian Revolution in the late 1970s, which overthrew the U.S. puppet government and held hostage U.S. embassy personnel, regarded as “a den of spies,” while Iranian students pieced together shredded embassy documents that proved America’s complicity in the destruction of Iranian democracy.

Robert Fisk:  Battle for the Islamic Republic

Now that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, has placed himself shoulder to shoulder with his officially elected president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the very existence of the Islamic regime may now be questioned openly in a nation ever more divided between reformists and those who insist on maintaining the integrity of the 1979 revolution. Had Khamenei chosen a middle ground, some small compromises towards the countless millions – for in the election, it appears, they were indeed uncounted – who oppose Ahmadinejad, then he might have remained a neutral father-figure. Mir Hossein Mousavi and his supporters had religiously – in the most literal sense of the word – refused to criticise the Supreme Leader or the existence of the Islamic Republic during last week’s street demonstrations. 

But reacting as all revolutionaries do even decades after they have come to power – for the spectre of counter-revolution remains with them until death – Khamenei chose to paint Ahmadinejad’s political opponents as potential mercenaries, spies and agents of foreign powers. Treason in the Islamic Republic is, of course, punishable by death. But Khamenei’s political alliance with his very odd and hallucinatory president may have sprung from fear as much as anger.

Shut Up About Iran by Sheldon Richman

True, Obama has said he does not wish to interfere in the Iranian election. Others, such John “Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran” McCain, have no such compunction. But any statement at all — even a statement about not making a statement — is a mistake. The record of the U.S. government in Iran over the last half-century is so tainted that it would be better for all officials to just keep quiet.

The results of the presidential election certainly suggest a fix. But that is for the Iranians to work out.

For the last few years, the U.S. “military option” has been prominently “on the table” when it comes to Iran. The U.S. government’s closest ally in the Middle East, Israel — especially under the new hard-line prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu — clearly would like to see Iran attacked for having the nerve to develop nuclear technology. U.S. intelligence says Iran gave up a weapons program long ago — before Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became president — but Israel apparently won’t tolerate an Iran even with only a civilian nuclear-power industry. Apparently the thought of another country’s challenging Israel’s 40-year nuclear-weapons monopoly in the Middle East — and thus being able to deter aggressive military action — is intolerable. (Ahmadinejad, incidentally, has no military authority under Iranian law.)

The U.S. government, then, can hardly be an unbiased observer of Iran’s political process. Besides, it is well known that U.S. governments have routinely meddled in elections throughout the world, overtly and covertly. The National Endowment for Democracy, a government-funded organization, is just the most obvious way that American officials interfere. (Remember how outraged people were in the Clinton years when they thought the Chinese had funneled money into the U.S. electoral system?)

 

 

 

 

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Obama’s Speech to the Muslim World

June 8, 2009 at 10:44 am (American Society, Anti-War, Why They Hate Us, Why They Hate Us-The Muslim Edition)

My thoughts:  It’s was nice and eloquent, the usual Obama flavor.  It contained a lot of things that we want to hear.  But until our president seriously addresses the serious human rights abuses and crimes in this “War on Terror,” it means nothing.  It’s nice that he said, “Peace be unto you” but the people of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan do not know anything resembling peace at the moment.  We can blame al Qaeda, the Taliban and other violent militia groups (and rightfully so becuse Lord knows they’ve life a living hell so for many people) for this mess.  But we can’t ignore how American intervention and hyper-militarism has made matters much worse.  And what’s amazing is that even though Obama is still paying lip-service to Israel, they still aren’t satisfied.  You saw the video! 

Peace be upon you?  by Missy Comley Bettie

When the president said: “I am aware that some question or justify the events of 9/11, but let us be clear–al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people on that day,” I went back to the date, remembering the fear, the horror, and the weeks and months that followed, the demand for revenge and the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. And I also remembered the deceitful plot, the Bush/Cheney disaster, to connect Iraq to al Qaeda. Yes, 3000 people died on September 11, 2001 and, now, almost eight years later, in two countries, 5000 coalition troops have lost their lives and in Iraq, alone, the country that Bush and Cheney were determined, prior to 9/11, to conquer, over a million civilians have died.

Imagine An Occupied America by Rep Ron Paul (oh, please don’t go into this man’s history.  just read the dang article)

According to our own CIA, our meddling in the Middle East was the prime motivation for the horrific attacks on 9/11. But instead of reevaluating our foreign policy, we have simply escalated it. We had a right to go after those responsible for 9/11, to be sure, but why do so many Americans feel as if we have a right to a military presence in some 160 countries when we wouldn’t stand for even one foreign base on our soil, for any reason? These are not embassies, mind you, these are military installations. The new administration is not materially changing anything about this. Shuffling troops around and playing with semantics does not accomplish the goals of the American people, who simply want our men and women to come home. Fifty thousand troops left behind in Iraq is not conducive to peace any more than 50,000 Russian soldiers would be in the United States.

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The world is with you

January 11, 2009 at 6:55 am (Anti-War, Waging Peace)

 

May God Most High bless the doctors, nurses and volunteers who are risking their lives to help the victims. 

May God Most High bless the human rights activists and reporters who are monitoring this massacre. 

Your courage is unmeasurable. 

Thousands in Europe, Lebanon Protest Violence

Scores of marches were held across France, the biggest of them in the capital, where police estimated 30,000 people took part. Paris police scuffled with a small group toward the end. Police said they made 180 arrests and a dozen police officers were injured.

Police estimated that 30,000 people protested in the northern Spanish city of Barcelona, some carrying bloodstained blankets and mock dead bodies of children.

The demonstration had been called by around 300 Catalan groups who have asked the Spanish government to back cease-fire initiatives and to stop all trade, especially arms, with Israel.

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Report from New Orleanian in Rafah

January 11, 2009 at 6:38 am (Anti-War, New Orleans, Oppress This!, Waging Peace, Why They Hate Us-The Muslim Edition)

Here is a short report from Bill Quigley, a human rights attorney based in New Orleans.  Back in 2005, I posted many of his writings on my Katrina Files blog.  You can find more of his work at Counterpunch. 

Report from Rafah: Doctors Stopped At Borders
by Bill Quigley. 

Bill is a human rights lawyer and law professor at
Loyola New Orleans. He is in Egypt as a human rights representative of
the National Lawyers Guild, the Society of American Law Professors,
the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and the War
Resisters League. Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and
Audrey Stewart are also in Egypt and contributed to this article. His
email is quigley77@gmail.com

Dr. Nicolas Doussis-Rassias and many other volunteer doctors have been
waiting in Rafah, Egypt for days.  Nicolas and the other physicians
came to Rafah to go through the border into Gaza to help the 3000
people wounded by Israeli bombs and heavy weapons.

Rafah is a heavily armed Egyptian border crossing into Gaza, a four
hour drive away from Cairo.  Sonic booms of high flying jets cut
through the stark blue sky.  Military drones hover over the border as
the air smells of burning.

“Three thousand victims of bombs and gunfire would overwhelm the
medical system of New York city,” Nicolas said.  “Gaza now has no
functioning medical system at all.  Most of it has no electricity nor
running water.  These people are in crisis – they need medical help,
so we are here to help them.”

But today, instead of helping the thousands of wounded, Nicolas and
other doctors are holding up a hand lettered red and blue banner
outside the Egyptian border station saying – Let the Doctors Through!

Why?  Doctors of Peace and numerous other doctors from around the
world have been prevented from entering Gaza for seven days. They
cannot get in to help through Israel nor Egypt.

Nicolasis not an anti-Israeli radical.  He is a jolly 49 year old
Athens doctor. Father of two children, he is the president of a
organization of volunteer Greek physicians called Doctors of Peace.
These doctors pay their own way and volunteer to help the victims of
war and natural disasters. They have helped out in Latin America with
victims of Hurricane Mitch, in Sri Lanka with tsunami victims, and the
victims of wars in Lebanon, Serbia, Turkey, and Pakistan.

But the borders of Gaza are sealed off preventing basic humanitarian
and medical assistance from entering.

Richard Falk, the UN Special Reporter on Human Rights in the Occupied
Territories, pointed out the human rights violations of the sealed
border:  “Israeli actions, specifically the complete sealing off of
entry and exit to and from the Gaza Strip, have led to severe
shortages of medicine and fuel (as well as food), resulting in the
inability of ambulances to respond to the injured, the inability of
hospitals to adequately provide medicine or necessary equipment for
the injured, and the inability of Gaza’s besieged doctors and other
medical workers to sufficiently treat the victims.”

The people of Gaza have been cutoff from basic medical and
humanitarian resources for a long time by an ongoing blockade by
Israel, but everything is much worse in the last few weeks.

Falk, like many others, also condemned the rocket attacks launched
from Gaza against Israel. More than a dozen Israelis have died since
the war began, as have more than 800 Gazans.  But Falk’s harshest
words were reserved for the catastrophic human toll from the Israeli
airstrikes and “those counties that have been and remain complicit,
either directly or indirectly, in Israel’s violations of international
law.”

Frida Berrigan pointed out that “During the Bush administration Israel
has received over $21 billion in U.S. security assistance, including
$19 billion in direct military aid. The bulk of Israel’s current
arsenal is composed of equipment supplied under U.S. assistance
programs. For example, Israel has 226 U.S.-supplied F-16 fighter and
attack jets, over 700 M-60 tanks, 6,000 armored personnel carriers,
and scores of transport planes, attack helicopters, utility and
training aircraft, bombs, and tactical missiles of all kinds.”

Palestinian medical officials say more than half of the 800 dead and
3000 wounded are civilians. Denial of humanitarian and medical
assistance to civilian casualties is a clear violation of basic human
rights.

The people of Egypt are challenging the denial of medical help for
Gaza.  Halfway through our drive from Cairo to Rafah, we saw a hundred
young Egyptians sitting in the middle of the highway protesting
Egypt’s inactions.

After seven days, the border is starting to open a little.  The
Egyptian Red Crescent was allowed to deliver supplies to the border
today and some of the waiting doctors were allowed in. With great
show, two dozen Egyptian ambulances were allowed to enter the border
area – only to be parked inside to wait for the injured to make it to
the border.  Two ambulances left Rafah with patients inside.

Doctors of Peace were still not allowed in today.  Some physicians,
tired from the seven day blockade, have started to return home.

Nicolas is going back to the Rafah border crossing tomorrow to try
again.  Why?  “Because there are 3000 injured people who need help. I
am going to keep trying.”

———————————————————-

For questions about the trip, please contact:

Davida Finger
504 292 6715  davida.finger@gmail.com

Jessica Stewart
607 280 0329  jstewart108@gmail.com

————————————

Brief Biographies of US Human Rights Activists traveling to Gaza

Kathy Kelly.  Kathy Kelly is from Chicago, Illinois where she is
co-founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.   Prior to founding
Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Kathy helped initiate Voices in the
Wilderness, a campaign to end the UN/US sanctions against Iraq.  She
has been to Iraq twenty four times since the campaign began.  Kathy
Kelly is the author of OTHER LANDS HAVE DREAMS: FROM BAGHDAD TO PEKIN
PRISON (2005).   She has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and
is the recipient of numerous awards.  Her full biography is available
at: http://vcnv.org/speaker-bio/kathy-kelly

William Quigley.  Bill Quigley is a human rights lawyer and law
professor at Loyola University College of Law in New Orleans,
Louisiana.  Bill is on this trip as a representative of several human
rights lawyer groups including the National Lawyers Guild, the
International Association of Democratic Lawyers and the Society of
American Law Teachers.  Bill is the author of two books and numerous
scholarly articles on social justice.  Bill has worked on civil and
human rights in the US and internationally for over thirty years and
is the recipient of numerous awards.  His full biography is available
at: http://www.loyno.edu/~quigley/

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Resistance: Emirati Style

December 31, 2008 at 2:04 pm (Anti-War, Emirati Culture, Izzy Mo in Dubai)

Shaykh Mohammad cancels New Year’s celebrations

Dubai: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has ordered the cancellation of all forms of celebrations marking the New Year in Dubai emirate, as an act of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

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Silence

December 31, 2008 at 9:37 am (Anti-War, Oppress This!)

Here are some pics from last night’s protest rally at Dubai Marina. 

We all sat in silence.

I tried to imagine this candle as a representation of one dead Palestinian.  One mother, one child, one teacher, one father…

As I sat with my friends, the rally grew in size.  One friend pointed that the crowd had about the same amount of people that have been killed since the latest siege.  Once again, I tried to imagine every single person as a lost Palestinian life. 

And I thought to myself,

what’s happening in Gaza is the tip of the iceburg.  This is a small infected part of the Muslim body.  We haven’t begun to heal the other wounds.  Sudan.  Kashmir.  Pakistan.  Iraq.  Afghanistan.  Somalia.  And so on and so on and so on.

But what have is what we have earned. 

We want so much from God.  We want strong, fertile, protected lands with powerful armies.  We want riches and the power to control our destinies.  We want people to stop mocking us, to respect us and to learn about our religion and history.  We want our enemies (real and perceived) to be defeated. 

And yet, some of us can’t even give God one prayer.  We can’t take a break from watching TV to make dua.  Or give one second to say “bismillah” before eating and “alhamdulillah” afterwards.  We want so much and yet we sacrifice so little.  Those innocents who are dead.  The struggle for them is over.  They are resting, bathed in the light of the mercy of God.  They are promised Paradise.  But we are in the dunya and there’s only so much time to do what is commanded of us before we are taken to account. 

I know that going to a protest rally is nothing more than what it is. 

But you get tired protesting…

You get tired of giving money to charity organizations. 

You want to do more!  Something that will actually change the situation, not simply put a band-aid on a bullet wound. 

Yeah, you know the money might put an Afghan girl through school or help a Palestinian mother feed her children.  And this is important.  But you’re frustrated and sick and tired of feeling helpless.

“Verily, God does not change the condition of a people until they change themselves.” 

Until we get our act together, we will continue  to be in this pathetic state. 

Here is hoping for a new year with new beginnings and the hope that this nonsense will end.

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From Gaza: Ground Zero

December 30, 2008 at 7:30 am (Anti-War, The Umma, Why They Hate Us-The Muslim Edition)

Why would Israel bomb a university? by Dr. Akram Habeeb

Why would Israel bomb a university? Israel did not only target my university last night. It also bombed mosques, pharmacies and homes. In Jabaliya refugee camp Israeli bombs killed four little girls, sisters from the Balousha family. In Rafah they killed three brothers, aged 6, 12 and 14. They also killed a mother, along with her one-year-old child from the Kishko family in Gaza City.

They are wrong to think that we are terrorists by Eman Mohammed

Where else but in Gaza are students killed in air strikes on their classrooms? Where else does a humanitarian disaster unfold not because an earthquake, a volcano, or any other kind of natural disaster struck, but because of governmental policy, and the cooperation of world powers?

From my desk in my university classroom we could see the smoke from Israel’s bombing and hear the most terrifying sound of non-stop explosions. Girls around me screamed in horror and I thought about my camera which I left back at home for fear that rain would damage it. It ended up being a sunny day and I regretted losing the opportunity to take photos, not for fame or for money, but to document what was happening to prove to people outside of Gaza that they are wrong to think we are the terrorists.

An Earthquake on top of Your Head by Dr. Eyad Al Serraj

My 10-year-old was terrified, he was jumping from one place to another trying to hide. I held him tight to my chest and tried to give him some security and reassure him. My 12-year-old was panicking and began laughing hysterically, it’s not normal. I held her hand and calmed her and told her she would be safe. My wife was panicking. She was running around the apartment looking for somewhere to hide.

Israel Attempted Endgame in Gaza by Jennifer Lowenstein

The bombings were timed to cause the maximum number of “enemy” casualties. They occurred at approximately 11:20am on a bustling Saturday morning, just as schools were changing shifts and many children were either leaving for home or coming to afternoon classes; when offices were filled with their employees, and streets busy with the late morning crowds out getting lunch or on quick errands of one sort or another. The day before, Israel had opened some of the crossings into Gaza to let in another trickle of humanitarian aid. ‘See how generous we are to our enemy!’ they exclaim with straight faces to the international media. Each time Gaza reaches the brink of starvation and ruin, they let in just enough food and supplies to silence potential critics. Then the next round begins. It is hardly surprising. After all, this policy was outlined publicly by Dov Weisglass not so long ago when he promised that Israel would put Gaza on a punishing “starvation diet” until it saw reason and evicted its democratically elected government. Many people, including members of the Hamas government, believed that reopening the crossings to international aid signaled another brief lull in military activity, as it usually had, while the IDF General staff prepared its next offensive. In this way were the people and government of Gaza unprepared for the next day’s slaughter.

 

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Resistance

December 30, 2008 at 7:11 am (Anti-War, Oppress This!, The Umma, Why They Hate Us-The Muslim Edition)

I had a wonderful time with my family in Dubai.  Quite idyllic.  And I will talk about that later. 

What I want to talk about is that once again, right before our very eyes, another massacre has taken place in Gaza.  Brothers and sisters, I’m so sick of this.  I know that if I was in the States right now, somebody, somewhere, would try to justify this.  Some ignorant person would say that this is for Israel’s protection.  I almost shake with derisive laughter when I think about the fact that the United States government spends billions of dollars on counterterrorism against people who throw rocks.  They throw rocks, people!  That is what they have been reduced to—throwing rocks and falling into such depths of despair and loss that blowing themselves up seems more practical and peaceful than living under the tyranny of the Israeli state. 

And you can only discuss this with a handful of Americans.  If you suggest, merely suggest, that this violence doesn’t come out of vacuum, and that something bad must be going on in order for the Palestinian people to fight for as long as they have, you WILL be shouted down and branded an anti-Semite.  This is how they squash descent.  There is no discussion about how the Israeli government blocks aid (food and water) from reaching Gaza .  No talk about bulldozed homes, starving children, curfews, check points, strip searches, and that wall—that wall which is nothing more than a replica of the same walls that cut off European Jews from mainstream society for centuries.  They have learned their lessons from the Nazis and they have learned it well. 

And you can’t tell me that all those Jews who were killed, maimed, tortured, and raped during the Holocaust suffered so that their descendents could inflict the same amount of violence on another people. I don’t buy into that bull.   I’m sick TO THE TEETH of the Holocaust being used as an excuse to justify this current holocaust.  And those American reporters need to get some courage and tell the friggin’ truth.  Don’t tell me that a little boy with a rock and sling shot has more courage than a reporter who is blessed with a platform to speak to millions of people. 

Even now as I type these words, I have to wonder about the cost.  Who will I offend?  What moron will spam me with crap about those Palestinian kids deserve to die.  Aren’t the lives of Palestinian children just as precious and sacred as the lives of Israeli children?  Speech ain’t free, no matter what the Constitution says.  There’s always a price, big or small, for speaking your mind.  Who will accuse me of placing the Palestinian cause above all others?    After all, I’m a Black Muslim woman, therefore, I should only concern myself with all matters falling within those parameters.  Who knows if someone will misconstrue my concern as kissing up to the Arabs!  @@, @@  We all know how us American Muslims are vying for the supremacy of our respective causes.  Who will come to my blog and screech about how they never read impassioned pleas for the people of Sudan, Pakistan, Chechyna, Niger, Mali, Kashmir, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq, and so on , and so on and so oooooooooon….enough already.  We already know that the umma is broken and bereft so let’s not play that record again.  We already danced to that. 

Ya ‘Adl, Ya ‘Adl, Ya ‘Adl

Ya Hakam, Ya Hakam, Ya Hakam

God is the Judge and the Most Just

And I don’t doubt that the dead, those innocent civilains, those people who have no choice over what Hamas and Israel does, are awaiting an exquisite, glorious life in Jannat al Firdaus.  Please make dua for Gaza and for all of our brothers and sisters who are suffering around the world.  Resistance is not terrorism.  If they think that the Palestinian people will give up they’ve got another thing coming.  The more they suppress them, the more they fight back.  They have a right to self determination, a right to return and a right not to pay the price for a crime they didn’t commit.  They should not have to suffer for the sins of anti-Semitic Europe.  They have a right to live to have the same standard of living as the Israelis.  They have a right to educate their children without school closures, a right to travel freely, a right to worship (or not worship) as they please without worrying about their houses of worship being bombed.  It is their home!  It is their land! 

They have a right to live!  And if you were in their shoes, you would do the same thing.  You would resist!

May they resist and may justice and peace return to the land.  Ameen

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Awwww, yeah!

December 17, 2008 at 10:05 am (Anti-War, Why They Hate Us-The Muslim Edition)

So sorry I haven’t come back yet.

There’s been a little office meltdown regarding visas AS USUAL!!!!

But I have to say this…

Insha’Allah if I get married and have kids, and if my first child is boy, I think I will name him Muntadar!

You know him better as the Iraqi shoe-throwing reporter!  Whoo-hoo!!!!!!!

If the shoe fits, wear it 

and

A Hero of Our Time by David Lindoff

Al-Zaidi listened to Bush blather that the half-decade of war he had initiated with the illegal invasion of Iraq had been “necessary for US security, Iraqi stability (sic) and world peace” and something just snapped. The television correspondent, who had been kidnapped and held for a while last year by Shiite militants, pulled off a shoe and threw it at Bush—a serious insult in Iraqi culture—and shouted “This is a farewell kiss, you dog!”  When the first shoe missed its target, he grabbed a second shoe and heaved it too, causing the president to duck a second time as al-Zaidi shouted, “This is from the widows, the orphans, and those who were killed in Iraq!”

 

 

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