Wishing you all a joy-filled Christmas 2011!

Isaiah 9:2-7

His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

***

Vivaldi – Gloria: 1. Gloria in excelsis Deo – Trevor Pinnock – The English Concert

***

Fort Carson in my city of Colorado Springs welcomed home 200 soldiers from Afghanistan and another 100 from Iraq this week. God bless all our servicemen and women and their families this Christmas season.

Never forget those who made the ultimate sacrifice:

***

An explosion near a Catholic Church in Nigeria’s capital city on Christmas morning and the cancellation of Christian masses in Iraq remind us of the ever-present persecution and threats to followers of Christ around the world.

Please don’t forget those who have remained steadfast in the face of death — including apostate Pastor
Yousef Nadarkhani, who faces the death penalty in Iran because he refuses to renounce his Christian faith. As the ACLJ notes:

“Christian persecution takes no holiday.”

***
What are your favorite Christmas memories, hymns, and/or traditions? Share via comments or e-mails.

This is no surprise, because the “elect me and the world will love us” rhetoric from 2008 was an illusion from the start, but some may be surprised to learn that not only is US popularity in most Arab countries plummeting, but it’s actually falling lower than when Bush was president:

With the 2008 election of Barack Obama, favorable attitudes toward the U.S. more than doubled in many Arab countries. But in the two years since his famous “Cairo speech,” ratings for both the U.S. and the President have spiraled downwards. The President is seen overwhelmingly as failing to meet the expectations set during his speech, and the vast majority of those surveyed disagree with U.S policies.
[...]
After improving with the election of Barack Obama in 2008, U.S. favorable ratings across the Arab world have plummeted. In most countries they are lower than at the end of the Bush Administration, and lower than Iran’s favorable ratings (except in Saudi Arabia).

Soon to be spotted somewhere in the Middle East:

The poll also found that the killing of Osama bin Laden drove down US favorability in much of the Middle East, so next time it might be wise for certain voters to ask what kind of countries their candidate has made it a goal to befriend before assuming it’s a good thing for America.

(h/t Newsmax)

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

President Obama, Nobel Peace Prize winner, launched an attack on another country while in another country, without the congressional approval that George W. Bush had and with only about half as many other countries on board. Obama seemed to feel this constituted enough of a moral high ground from which to take a jab at the former president.

John Hayward at Human Events:

Speaking in Chile [pronounced Chee-lay -- DP] to defend his decision to launch Operation Odyssey Dawn, President Obama couldn’t resist taking a swipe at George Bush, in a clumsy attempt to make himself look superior.

As reported by Fox News, the President declared: “In the past there have been times when the United States acted unilaterally or did not have full international support, and as a consequence typically it was the United States military that ended up bearing the entire burden.”

As the folks at Fox quickly pointed out, Bush actually had twice as many international allies for the invasion of Iraq as Obama has put together for his adventure in Libya.

Here are the lists of members of the international coalitions, Iraq vs. Libya:

[Source: US State Department]

Coalition Countries – Iraq – 2003

Afghanistan,
Albania
Australia
Azerbaijan
Bulgaria
Colombia
Czech Republic
Denmark
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Georgia
Hungary
Italy
Japan
South Korea
Latvia
Lithuania
Macedonia
Netherlands
Nicaragua
Philippines
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Spain
Turkey
United Kingdom
Uzbekistan

Coalition – Libya – 2011

United States
France
United Kingdom
Italy
Canada
Belgium
Denmark
Norway
Qatar
Spain
Greece
Germany
Poland
Jordan
Morocco
United Arab Emirate

Team Obama often talks about what they “inherited” from Bush, but one of them was not over a dozen coalition nations — and that’s just got to be Bush’s fault. Either way, it’s certainly nothing worth bragging about. But these little slip-ups are bound to happen when the “blame Bush” switch is set to auto-pilot all the time.

Update: Maybe President Obama heard his list of coalition nations was several countries shorter than Bush’s, because he’s cutting short his Latin America trip by two hours to head back to Washington. Golf withdrawals?

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

This is hardly surprising since we’re talking about the same university that invited Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak, but even still, words escape me:

Columbia University students heckled a war hero during a town-hall meeting on whether ROTC should be allowed back on campus.

“Racist!” some students yelled at Anthony Maschek, a Columbia freshman and former Army staff sergeant awarded the Purple Heart after being shot 11 times in a firefight in northern Iraq in February 2008. Others hissed and booed the veteran.

Maschek, 28, had bravely stepped up to the mike Tuesday at the meeting to issue an impassioned challenge to fellow students on their perceptions of the military.

“It doesn’t matter how you feel about the war. It doesn’t matter how you feel about fighting,” said Maschek. “There are bad men out there plotting to kill you.”

Several students laughed and jeered the Idaho native, a 10th Mountain Division infantryman who spent two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington recovering from grievous wounds.

Pathetic, but predictable. The inexcusable treatment of Anthony Maschek by people who won’t understand or appreciate the US military until there are Chinese tanks sitting in the lobbies of their dormitories and suicide bombers in Schermerhorn Hall (and probably not even then) isn’t necessarily because he’s a military veteran — it could be because his name isn’t Bradley Manning.

**Wasn’t the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” supposed to open the arms of the left toward the military?

**Rhetorical question, no need to answer

Glenn Reynolds:

I note that this is also more evidence that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was just a lame excuse to cover for generic hostility to the military, something made clear by numerous speakers at the event including some Columbia faculty. I also note that in these days of constrained budgets and an angry, aware electorate, heavily subsidized sectors like higher education — and Columbia, despite its private nature, is itself heavily dependent on government subsidies — should think twice about appearing anti-American. It’s not the 1960s anymore.

Maybe we should add Columbia to the “defund-a-palooza” wish list.

I’ll close with an observation from Jammie Wearing Fool:

This is where we are now in America: People laugh and sneer at wounded veterans. Yet go and make fun of a liberal and it’s basically a hate crime.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Harry Reid is a genius when it comes to military tactics — just ask him.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal recently questioned the Harry Reid and Sharron Angle campaigns on various issues.

Here’s part of the Reid campaign’s explanation for why the Nevada Senator once said “the war is lost”:

On REID’S COMMENT THAT THE IRAQ ‘WAR IS LOST’

REID: At the time Sen. Reid made this comment, President Bush had been pursuing a failed, stay-the-course strategy that had cost thousands of American lives and billions of taxpayer dollars. Iraq appeared to be on the verge of a sectarian civil war. He was simply pointing out what our military leaders, including Gen. Petraeus, had been saying for months: that we could not win by staying the course; the war needed to be won diplomatically, politically, and economically. Sen. Reid and his colleagues were successful in forcing President Bush to finally abandon his failed approach and refocus on political reconciliation. This is what ultimately paved the way for the Iraqi government to take greater responsibility for Iraq’s future.

Sun Tzu himself couldn’t have thought up a more brilliant strategy. Congratulations, General Reid.

And all along we thought Reid was being pathetic and weak — I for one feel bad for ever criticizing him.

Here’s a flashback to when Harry “Patton” Reid rallied our brave men and women to victory with his trademark Churchillian leadership style:

There’s a big difference between “we can’t win unless…” and “we lost.” Harry Reid hopes nobody can tell the difference.

(h/t WZ)

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Barack Obama, 2002:

What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.

What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income, to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression.

That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.

Barack Obama, 2010:

In a radio interview with CBS News, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said President Obama will emphasize that “We are putting the Iraqis in control of their history and their future. They’ll have responsibility for security and responsibility for providing for the citizens of that country. That is a milestone worth barking.”

Just hours before the president speaks from the Oval Office, Gibbs said the speech would emphasize “the milestone of the end of our combat mission,” and said Mr. Obama will say, “The story of the Iraqis will be written by the Iraqis.”

…While Iraq has seen political turmoil for months, Gibbs insists the caretaker government is stable. He predicts “in very short order” the Iraqis will have a government in place. The spokesman said the president will tell Iraqis, “with our help as allies, you will be able to chart your future and your course as you determine.”

Gibbs also had a terse response to Republicans challenging the president to give credit to the troop surge ordered by former President George. W. Bush — a move opposed by then-Senator Obama.

Gibbs acknowledged that “the surge improved security conditions in Iraq.” But, he added, “I think the only question that matters for them (Republicans) today — we can look back in history, but the question that matters today is, where are you on bringing more than 90,000 troops out of Iraq right now? Do you support the president’s timeline for ending our combat operation in Iraq? That’s the question I’d like to hear answered by those Republicans.”

President Obama will also call George W. Bush today for what Gibbs describes as an “appropriate time” to thank him for his “love of country as we end the combat mission.”

No word on whether Obama will apologize for his past political hackery and cynical attacks on those in the Bush administration who supported the troop surge that made his speech tonight possible.

The Denver Post reminds folks in my state that while the combat mission is “ending,” our troops are not coming home anytime soon. The mission that Obama once mocked as a “dumb war” continues:

While 80 troops recently returned to Fort Carson from Iraq, 3,400 members of the Fort Carson-based 3rd Brigade Combat Team are still posted there, conducting “stability operations” until March.

Another 800 soldiers from 4th Infantry Division headquarters are preparing to deploy to Iraq this fall.

…The mission for those deploying into what will now be called Operation New Dawn, rather than Operation Iraqi Freedom, includes advising Iraqi commanders on intelligence, supplies and training, he said. The unit will work on existing bases around Iraq for a year.

No fanfare was expected at Fort Carson around Obama’s speech at 6 tonight, said base spokeswoman Dee McNutt.

The Fort Carson troops who remain in Iraq are among 50,000 U.S. military and 70,000 contract personnel scheduled to remain until December 2011.

Related: Troops yet to give Obama full salute

Related: Boehner’s reminder for Obama…

In advance of President Obama’s Tuesday night speech on Iraq, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader, was set to remind thousands of veterans attending the national convention of the American Legion that Mr. Obama and other Democrats had opposed the military escalation credited with gains in Iraq.

“This day belongs to our troops, whose courage and sacrifices have made the transition to a new mission in Iraq possible,” Mr. Boehner said in excerpts of the speech he was to deliver Tuesday at the legion’s national convention in Milwaukee.

“Some leaders who opposed, criticized, and fought tooth-and-nail to stop the surge strategy now proudly claim credit for the results,” Mr. Boehner’s speech said.

Words do matter, then and now.

***

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan:

The top U.S. Marine general made a sharp departure from the White House’s talking points on Afghanistan, saying President Barack Obama’s promised July 2011 deadline to start withdrawing troops from the country had given “sustenance” to the Taliban.

“We know the president was talking to several audiences at the same time when he made his comments on July 2011,” Gen. James Conway told reporters on Tuesday. “In some ways, we think right now it’s probably giving our enemy sustenance….In fact, we’ve intercepted communications that say, ‘Hey, you know, we only have to hold out for so long.’”

***
Update: Here is the full speech transcript.

Your takeaway:

As we do, I am mindful that the Iraq War has been a contentious issue at home. Here, too, it is time to turn the page. This afternoon, I spoke to former President George W. Bush. It’s well known that he and I disagreed about the war from its outset. Yet no one could doubt President Bush’s support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security. As I have said, there were patriots who supported this war, and patriots who opposed it. And all of us are united in appreciation for our servicemen and women, and our hope for Iraq’s future.

The greatness of our democracy is grounded in our ability to move beyond our differences, and to learn from our experience as we confront the many challenges ahead. And no challenge is more essential to our security than our fight against al Qaeda.

From the USO Dallas/Ft. Worth Facebook page:

This morning at DFW Airport, George and Laura Bush greeted 150 (very surprised) troops as they arrived home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Their expressions were so priceless!

Some pictures:

A few more photos (larger size) are here.

Welcome home to our troops and thanks to George and Laura Bush for greeting them!

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Vice President Joe Biden credits his boss — the poster child of the post-achievement era — with securing Iraq and calls it “one of the great achievements of this administration.”

Not the soldiers, not the architects of the surge that the commander-in-chief opposes, not the Bush administration that listened to surge advocates and changed course.

Gall, via Andrew Malcom at the LAT:

Now, the Obama-Biden pair that opposed the Iraq war and its tactics and predicted their failure is prepared to accept credit for its success.

It seems that Biden, who’s from Delaware when he’s in Delaware and Pennsylvania when in Pennsylvania, is certain now that Iraq will turn out to be one of the Obama-Biden administration’s greatest achievements.

No, really.

Here’s how Biden put it to Lar:

I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You’re going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer. You’re going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government.

I spent — I’ve been there 17 times now. I go about every two months — three months. I know every one of the major players in all the segments of that society. It’s impressed me. I’ve been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences.

Biden did not elaborate on what all the administration’s other “great achievements” were so far.

Please read it. A tragic loss. A lasting legacy. Service to this country that won’t be forgotten.

The Department of Defense has positively identified the remains of a U.S. Navy pilot shot down over Iraq in the opening hours of the 1991 Gulf War.

CBS News Pentagon correspondent David Martin reports that remains found in Iraq have been confirmed to be that of Captain Michael “Scott” Speicher, who disappeared on January 17, 1991 when his F-18 went down in Al Anbar province.

An American team dug up the remains, which consisted of numerous skeletal fragments.

The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology made a positive identification based on teeth in the jawbone which positively matched Speicher’s dental records, both visually and spectrographically.

DNA testing is not complete, but the identification is considered positive, reports Martin.

R.I.P. We never forgot. We’ll never forget.

First, “Duncan’s” veterans’ group has disbanded.

Next, the Denver Post, which had quoted him extensively, now jumps on public officials who happily pimped “Duncan”/Strandlof:

Dems red-faced over veteran imposter

Democrats are incensed over how a man duped the party and veterans during the ’08 campaign.
By Michael Riley

Rick Strandlof, executive director of the Colorado Veterans Alliance and the man most colleagues knew as Rick Duncan, was front and center during the 2008 political campaigns in Colorado.

He spoke at a Barack Obama veterans rally in front of the Capitol in July, co-hosted several events with then- congressional candidate Jared Polis and attacked Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer in a TV ad paid for by the national group Votevets.org.

And the mostly Democratic candidates he supported — looking for credibility on veterans issues and the war — lapped it up appreciatively.

Now, politicians are dealing with news that the man they believed to be a former Marine and war veteran wounded in Iraq by a roadside bomb, in fact, never served in the military — but did spend time in a mental hospital.

Many of the candidates he supported won their elections handily and now say they were defrauded as much as anyone else…

…There is little doubt that Strandlof had a remarkable ability to fool people, something aided by the fact that among his fabrications was his claim that he suffered a severe brain injury, which helped cover behavior that associates now concede was often erratic and strange.

But there were also plenty of signs during much of the time Strandlof was working on behalf of candidates for anyone watching carefully.

Not including the Denver Post, apparently.

CVA wasn’t registered as a political organization until well after the campaigns were over, and then only at the state level despite being active in federal campaigns.

And although he claimed to represent 32,000 veterans — the biggest post- 9/11 vets group in Colorado — Strandlof always showed up at events with the same small number of supporters, and there were few concrete signs he represented more than a close circle he had gathered around him.

“Nobody really fully trusted any of those numbers. . . . He had a few dozen people who were helping him out. He claimed to have a huge mailing list that no one ever saw. The VFW, the American Legion, none of those traditional veterans groups had ever heard of him,” said one prominent veterans activist who worked for Democratic candidates during the campaign and who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The veterans community was very protective over him because he had portrayed himself as a wounded veteran. This is someone who claimed spending 18 months undergoing physical rehabilitation after suffering debilitating injuries. . . . You don’t go at somebody like that hard,” the activist said. “Perhaps we learned a good lesson here.”

Reminder: It’s not the first time.

It won’t be the last.

***

Much more at This Ain’t Hell.

He’s Sgt. John M. Russell of the 54th Engineer Battalion.

He was on his third tour of duty.

For the past 24 hours, the MSM has set a narrative suggesting that the shooter was under combat stress himself. But it’s not clear what exactly he was being treated for, what his possible relationship with the men he murdered was, and what precipitated the fight at the clinic that led him to leave and return to gun them down. News accounts describe him as a “communications specialist.”

Russell had been on the military’s radar screen as a potentially violent threat for some time– and his superiors had taken the unusual step of taking away his weapon.

What did he say or do before the murders of his fellow soldiers that caused the military to take that step? Did he keep a homicidal diary like convicted fragger Hasan Akbar? Did he make prior threats? If so, what was the nature of those threats?

Before the MSM continues to push the stressed soldier narrative, they might want to find out the answers.

***

Update: A few more details…

The soldier’s son, John M. Russell II, said Tuesday that he has communicated with his father by e-mail regularly. In the last message he received from him, on April 25, his father sounded normal and planned to be back in Texas to visit in July.

“He’s not a violent person,” he said. “For this to happen, it had to be something going on that the Army’s not telling us about.”

Sgt. Russell grew up in rural Grayson County and graduated from high school in 1985. He entered the Army National Guard in 1988 and served until going on active duty in 1994.

He lives with his wife in Germany, where he’s been for the better part of the past 10 to 15 years but comes home a couple times a year, his father said.

Russell’s ex-wife filed for divorce in 1991 and obtained a temporary restraining order against him, alleging in the petition that he committed “acts of family violence.”

The petition also cited an alleged incident in which he had a confrontation with Denise Russell’s mother.

“During this time, respondent physically attacked my mother, age 58, hitting her on the shoulders and about the head,” a petition affidavit stated.

There was no response Tuesday to a telephone call and a visit to Russell’s ex-wife.

In 1993, a month after the divorce decree was issued, Russell was charged with misdemeanor assault but the matter was dropped, records show.

Jack McGowen, listed as Russell’s attorney for the divorce as well as the threat case, said Tuesday he can’t recall either matter.

My Christmas Eve column today brings together several unforgettable stories over the past year that will be familiar to readers of this blog. It’s enriching, inspiring stories like these that keep me going when Washington politics wears me down — and remind me of how truly blessed we are.

***

God’s Gifts
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2008

The Wal-Mart stampede in Long Island last month exposed the ugliest side of the Christmas season. But not all Americans live by “The Blitz Line Starts Here” credo. Not all of us rush to store shelves in search of the greatest gifts. Sometimes, they can be discovered in the hearts and souls of total strangers. If only you look.

What an extraordinary treasure America was given in Dong Yun Yoon. The naturalized American from Korea lost his entire family in a San Diego military jet crash three weeks ago. The tragedy claimed the lives of his infant daughter, toddler daughter, wife, and mother-in-law. It wrecked his house and upended his world.

But Mr. Yoon refused to blame the pilot or bash the military. At a press conference near the site of the crash, the grieving father and husband urged his fellow citizens to pray for the pilot: “He is one of our treasures for the country…I don’t blame him. I don’t have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could.”

In an age of shoe-tossing temper tantrums, anti-troop bigotry, and litigation gone wild, Mr. Yoon demonstrated both amazing grace and unbending patriotism in the face of unfathomable pain. His heart-wrenching plea for forgiveness resounded across the country — and around the world. Five hundred people from both the civilian and military communities came to lift Mr. Yoon up at his family’s memorial service. The assistant pastor of his church reported that they had received more than 1,000 phone calls and e-mail messages offering condolences and financial support.

Mr. Yoon’s suffering and sacrifice are powerful reminders of the preciousness of life — reminders that money can’t buy.

Haleigh Poutre is another of those priceless gifts. She’s the miracle child who was nearly beaten to death by her barbaric stepfather three years ago. Hooked to a ventilator in a comatose state, she was then nearly condemned to death by Massachusetts medical experts and the state’s criminally negligent child welfare bureaucracy, which hastily declared her to be in a hopeless vegetative state and wanted to pull the plug on her life.

God had a different plan. The government’s campaign to kill her was stopped after the then-11-year-old girl started breathing on her own and responding to commands. This little girl with an iron will to live has been nursed back to health by an amazing team of caring therapists. Her plight brought end-of-life issues again to the fore — issues that so many on both the left and right would prefer to ignore.

Haleigh the “vegetable” can now write her name, brush her own hair, and feed herself. Haleigh’s suffering and sacrifice carry powerful reminders against blind trust in the deadly duo of Big Nanny and Big Medicine — reminders that money can’t buy.

The life of Master Sgt. Anthony Davis gives us one more invaluable gift this year. On Thanksgiving weekend, his family learned that he had been killed while delivering humanitarian supplies in Biaj, Iraq. He had served in the Army for 26 years. He loved his job and he believed in his mission. The Baltimore native was married and had five children and one grandchild. His wife and daughter also served in the military.

Sergeant Davis was killed while distributing water and food in Biaj, about 250 miles north of Baghdad. He died, his family said, doing what he loved. “He was Army in every sense of the word,” Jorge Tardi, Sergeant Davis’ brother-in-law, told the Baltimore Sun. “He believed in our effort over there in Iraq. It wasn’t just a job. It wasn’t just a benefit. It wasn’t just hardship pay. He was a patriot.”

Sergeant Davis was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, but what his family will remember most is commitment to them. He was a peacemaker, they said, and a mentor to all. “‘A positive impact on somebody’s life can change their life for the better,’ That’s a quote from him,” his son Jerel said at his funeral. He “instilled in his children the importance of getting to know God.”

Sergeant Davis’s service sacrifice serves as powerful reminders never to take for granted the cherished gifts of family, faith, and freedom — reminders that money can’t buy.

Finally, some good news to report.

Earlier this month, I noted the awful plight of Linda Ferrara, the soldier’s mom whose blankets for the troops and tons of other homemade charitable items were stolen by soulless jerks.

The update on an outpouring of good will and donations:

Update: Donations for wounded Soldiers stolen from Gold Star Mom
“Did you hear about the Mom whose donations for the wounded Soldiers were stolen? Well, that’s me!”

- Linda Ferrara, while chasing a WalMart manager through the store to ask for a donation.

Gotta love it!

Linda related the WalMart incident last night on the phone as we spoke about the latest on her efforts to replace the stolen donations she had collected for the patients here at Landstuhl. (Back story here, keep scrolling at that link.) And yes, the manager did make a contribution.

Since the story about the theft broke she has received over 400 emails, many donations in kind, and about $25,000 in cash. She’s told everyone that this is (unfortunately) an ongoing project, so if they are unable able to help now they may do so in the future.

Linda has been busy purchasing items from our wish list with the funds. She’s also recruited two new groups of “blanket ladies” and bought fleece for them. She and her family have already packed up lots and lots of boxes and brought them to the Soldiers’ Angels warehouse for shipment.

On top of everything else, Patti of Soldiers’ Angels has arranged for Linda to fly here to meet with us in Germany (loaded up with even more donations from SA) and distribute some of the items to our wounded warriors personally.

Be sure to click through for more related links and ways to help.

God bless you, Linda, and Soldier’s Angels!

An unhinged Iraqi journalist fulfills the dream of every MSNBC anchor and NYTimes editorial columnist by throwing his shoes at President Bush during an impromptu news conference in Baghdad.

Watch.

Thankfully, President Bush was not hurt.

***

Snort. Patterico writes: “I think I heard that Iraqi journalist scream ‘Don’t tase me, bro!’ as he got swarmed.”

Reader David: “Dear Michelle, It is amazing – with all the hoopla about the Secret Service – that a civilian Iraqi reporter, in Baghdad yet, could complete TWO violent shoe-tosses at President Bush without any molesting from his protective detail. In fact the only person who actually confronted, and in some sense “tripped-up,” the “protestor” was a fellow journalist. The Secret Service was no where to be seen. It appears from the video clip of the incident that they poured-out from a back door many moments after the shoe attack was finished. If this reporter form Cairo had had a gun, Bush would have been dead and probably from many bullet wounds. The man had a virtual eternity to manage his attack. The Secret Service was a disgrace! Argh! Are you as hopping mad as I?”

Hmmmm. Via reader Duane:

Kidnapped Iraqi reporter freed, says no ransom paid
19 Nov 2007 13:33:27 GMT
Source: Reuters
BAGHDAD, Nov 19 (Reuters) – An Iraqi TV journalist who was kidnapped last week in a busy Baghdad neighbourhood said he was released unharmed before dawn on Monday.

Muntazer al-Zaidi, a correspondent for the independent al- Baghdadiya television station, said he spent more than two days blindfolded, barely eating and drinking, after armed men forced him into a car as he walked to work on Friday morning in the bustling Bab al-Sharji area of central Baghdad.

“My release is a miracle. I couldn’t believe I was still alive,” Zaidi, 28, told Reuters by telephone.
Zaidi said the kidnappers had beaten him until he lost consciousness. They used his necktie to blindfold him and bound his hands with his shoelaces.

He never learned the identity of the kidnappers, who questioned him closely about his work but did not demand a ransom.

The captors later told Zaidi he would be released, throwing him on to a dark street, still blindfolded, around 3 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Monday. He was then picked up by his brother.

At least 122 journalists and 41 media support staff have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. About 85 percent of those killed were Iraqis.

Some Iraqi journalists have been targeted by Sunni Arab militants or by Shi’ite militias. Others have been killed by U.S. forces while reporting. (Reporting by Waleed Ibrahim; Writing by Missy Ryan; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

Iraqi journalist hurls shoes at ‘dog’ Bush
Dec 14 02:36 PM US/Eastern

An Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes and an insult at George W. Bush, without hitting him, as the US president was shaking hands with the Iraqi premier at his Baghdad office on Sunday.
As the two leaders met in Nuri al-Maliki’s private office, a journalist sitting in the third row jumped up, shouting: “It is the farewell kiss, you dog,” and threw his shoes one after the other towards Bush.

Maliki made a protective gesture towards the US president, who ducked and was not hit.

The journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi from Al-Baghdadia channel which broadcasts from Cairo, was frogmarched from the room by security staff, an AFP journalist said.

Predictable gloating in the left-wing blogo-cesspool.

***

Flashback: An unhinged moonbat threw a shoe at Richard Perle in 2005 during a speech in Portland.