Dinah Lord

Iraqi slipper thrower shot by US Military.

They thought it was a grenade.

The wounded slipper thrower
and his mama-->

From al-Guardian 

American troops have shot and wounded an Iraqi man who hurled a slipper at a military convoy in the former insurgent stronghold of Falluja. A joint patrol of US and Iraqi troops is believed to have mistaken the flying shoe for a grenade.

A statement from the US military said that during a patrol on Wednesday an "object" was thrown at the troops, who then fired "in self-defence, wounding the attacker".

US troops gave the man, Ahmed al-Jumaili, first aid before he was taken to hospital by Iraqi police. He was in a stable condition after being treated for a chest wound and two bullet grazes.

The incident came just a day after the release from prison of Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George Bush.

Jumaili, a 30-year-old mechanic, said he threw his leather slipper in a knee-jerk reaction. "When I saw Americans patrolling the streets of Falluja I lost my temper, I don't want to see them in Falluja," he told the Associated Press news agency. "Troops have withdrawn from cities, so why they still patrolling here in Falluja?"

Because of a-holes like you, Ahmed. 

(Does being sorry to hear that this idiot Ahmed lived to tell the tale make me a bad person?) 

Iraq: Green Zone turns pink for the night.

And it ain't for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, either.  (Can you imagine the kerfuffle that would have resulted if this had occurred on George W Bush's watch?)

A Gay Pride party at the Baghdad Embassy.

Change has certainly come to Baghdad. And it appears that includes the U.S. Embassy, where they are holding what the invitation says is the first-ever U.S. Embassy Gay Pride Theme Party next Friday at Baghdaddy's, which is the embassy employee association's pub.

"Come celebrate the start of Summer with color . . . and in costume!" the May 10 invitation says. "Dress in drag or as a gay icon. All are welcome." The invitation was attached to what was called an "All Hands Alerts" e-mail.

An embassy spokesman said by way of explanation: "This is an event organized and sponsored by a group of employees. Given the lack of places to meet in Baghdad, the embassy allows groups to use its social facilities for events on a first-come, first-served basis."

The invitation says, "Prizes will be awarded for two contests: Best Dressed Gay Icon and Best Lip Synch Performance." Unclear what the prizes are, but don't forget to "order costume supplies now in time for May 29th," we're told. "For more info and costume ideas, check out the next edition of The Tigris Times.

And they think that the mere presence of Gitmo recruits terrorists.

More of those Muslim family values we're supposed to respect - Pt III

And this one takes the prize.

From Jonathan Kay at the National Post.

Having spent this morning catching up on my weekend reading, I came across this Page 4 article from Friday's New York Times. Here's the lead paragraph: "BAGHDAD — At least 80 people died and 120 others were injured Thursday in three bombings, one by a female suicide bomber in Baghdad who, Iraqi officials said, held a young child’s hand as she set off her explosives among a group of women and children receiving emergency food aid."

Even putting aside our baseline revulsion at terrorism, there are three especially hideous things that jumo out from this:

1) A mother deliberately taking her (presumed) child with her as she immolates herself. For all the hundreds of suicide bombings that Iraq has already witnessed, this has got to be a first.

2) This was a line for food aid. Islamists have gone from attacking U.S. soldiers, to attacking Iraqi soldiers, to attacking police stations, to attacking the religious ceremonies of rival sects — on down the line of nihilism until, now, they are reduced to blowing up hungry people seeking sustenance.

3) This hideous crime was played on page four of The New York Times. And a quick scan of other media suggests it got similar B-rate treatment elsewhere. This sort of act would have been worth a worldwide banner headline a decade ago. But now, it's just another demented Islamist senselessly slaughtering fellow Muslims. With her kid. Yawn.

Says a lot about the world we live in, doesn't it?

Iraq: Shoe thrower gets reduced sentence upon appeal.

Please!  Will this guy's 15 minutes EVER be up?  His shoe is no longer considered an assault, it's an insult and his sentence has been cut from three years to one.

 

Iraqi shoe thrower gets the book thrown at him

and three years in the slammer.  And did you know he practiced his throw in front of a video camera?  (doesn't that strike you as a bit nuts?) 

From the Daily Mail.

The Iraqi journalist who threw a pair of shoes at George Bush was today jailed for three years.

Muntadhar al-Zeidi had earlier pleaded not guilty to a charge of assaulting a foreign leader and said his action was a ‘natural response to the occupation.’

But judges disagreed, despite both hurled shoes missing the former president who was filmed twice ducking at a Baghdad press conference in December.

TV reporter al-Zeidi has been in custody since the incident, which was observed by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki who was standing next to Mr Bush.

His defence lawyers had  argued that the charge was not applicable because Mr Bush was not in Baghdad on an official visit, having arrived unannounced and without an invitation.  The judge says the Prime Minister’s office has responded that it was an official visit.

Last month al-Zeidi said he threw his shoes because Mr Bush’s ‘icy smile’ had filled him with uncontrollable rage, he said today. He also said that he had videotaped himself practicing the traditional Arab insult two years ago and had hoped to accost the former president in Jordan but this did not take place.

Iraqis open arms to love...

A cute story from Reuters (after you strip out the Boosh bashing and the selective memory of what life was like under Saddam when the Iraqis were drinking free bubble up and eating that rainbow stew). 

It's nice to see that simple liberties, like holding hands with your sweetie and dressing how you please are seeping back into everyday Iraqi life, isn't it?

Romance is in the air in Baghdad as war-weary Iraqis celebrate Valentine's Day after a sharp drop in violence, allowing lovers to cautiously hold hands in parks and to buy gifts for their sweethearts.

Public courtship and more daring clothing for women are increasing after years of growing intolerance, perhaps signaling the Islamic dogma and conservatism that accompanied Iraq's slide into sectarian slaughter may be losing their grip.

"You cannot imagine how happy I am today," said Usama Abdul-Wahab Khatab, a recent university graduate nestled beside his girlfriend at a riverside Baghdad park.

A year earlier, the park shook to the sounds of artillery fire that rained on the U.S. diplomatic and military Green Zone complex across the river, launched by religious militias whose reign also kept unmarried men and women apart.

Although Iraq is predominantly Muslim, celebration of an originally Western day for lovers became popular after the ouster of Saddam Hussein in the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.

...

"My son is spending Valentine's Day with his girlfriend. He's 16. I would never have allowed that before," he said.

Iraq: US Troops get beer for Super Bowl.

From Support Your Local Gunfighter.  (And I agree with Wyatt Earp, a full surf and turf dinner would be an excellent addition to the festivities.)

American troops in Iraq will be allowed to drink beer without fear of court-martial for this year’s Super Bowl — an exception to a strict military ban on drinking alcohol in combat zones.

In what is sure to be a major morale boost, the top U.S. commander in Iraq Gen. Raymond Odierno issued a waiver Wednesday paving the way for troops to participate in the popular American football tradition.

Super Bowl XLIII will kick off on Feb. 1 in Tampa, Florida, but it will be 2 a.m. in Baghdad when the live broadcast starts in Iraq. Troops will gather in dining halls on military bases nationwide to watch the game.

(Wish I could buy the whole bunch of them a Blue Moon...)

More Ashura

Kind of like a renaissance fair only with knives, whips and chains.

From Reuters:

A road leading to a golden domed Mosque at the north Baghdad shrine, scene of the bloody bomb attack Sunday, was again spattered with blood -- but this time it streamed from pilgrims cutting gashes in their heads: a traditional rite of mourning.

Thousands chanted "Haider, Haider" another name for Imam Ali, Imam Hussein's father, to commemorate the slaying of his son in the 7th century battle of Kerbala.

Groups of men, some riding horses, dressed up in medieval military outfits with spiked helmets and chainmail to re-enact the battle between followers of Hussein and his enemy Yazid. Others waved green and red flags. Women wailed.

Huge vats of stew steamed over wood fires on the roadside and a canal was died red to symbolize Hussein's blood.

 

Iraqi Museum hosts Saddam Hussein exhibit

And it's a doozy.  (Weren't we just talking about Islam and Torture?)

From Human Events.

Nearly six years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and two years after Saddam Hussein’s conviction and execution for slaughtering hundreds of thousands of his own citizens, the Islamic nation’s High Tribunal is trying to ensure Saddam’s memory is both clouded and preserved with a museum featuring artifacts of, and documents recounting, the myriad atrocities the former Iraqi dictator committed during his 24 years in power.

The museum, set to open to the Iraqi public at the beginning of March in Baghdad’s International Zone, will serve as a permanent home for a collection of physical and documentary evidence of Saddam’s atrocities which has been criss-crossing Iraq for the public’s view since March 2008.

Hanging apparati -- hooks and bloody nooses -- used to asphyxiate countless Iraqi men, women, and children will be displayed, as well as torture devices like “a man-shaped metal cage where,” according to reports, “Saddam’s son Uday used to lock underperforming athletes for weeks at a time -- and set them naked under the burning sun, the metal searing their flesh,” as well as a table, formerly housed in the basement of the Mukhabarat -- Saddam’s intelligence agency -- to which victims were strapped before being burned with irons or having electric currents transmitted through syringes into their urethras.

But the people of Iraq were better off then than they are now... right.  Moonbat idiots.

Iraq: Most of victims at today's bombing Iranian.

This makes twice since the American handed over control to the Iraqis that a female suicide bomber has sploded herself.  Sounds to me like Iraqi security is afraid to pat down these broads.  Another reason those burkas have got to go...

From Times Online:

A female suicide bomber killed at least 35 people, many of them Iranian pilgrims, and wounded scores more when she blew herself up amid a crowd of Shia worshippers outside a shrine in Baghdad today.

The attack was the second major bombing since US forces came under Iraqi Government authority on January 1. It also occurred as Iraqi leaders expressed confidence in their ability to defend Iraq at a ceremony to mark Army Day.

The bomber, dressed in a traditional black Islamic robe, targeted a checkpoint outside the Imam Moussa al-Khadim shrine in Khadamiya, northeast Baghdad, as Shia Muslims prepared to commemorate the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, at a key religious holiday this week.

Sunni Islamist extremists such as al-Qaeda have repeatedly targeted the annual event following the 2003 invasion. Today’s bombing will raise questions as to whether the Iraqi police and army can handle security alone.

About the other female suicide bomber?  The one who killed 23 Iraqis at a tribal gathering on Friday?  Her father and brother have been arrested and have confessed to complicity in the bombing.  More of those Muslim family values we're supposed admire in this multicultural world.