Okay, the first time I saw this video, I laughed but also was worried for the safety of the president. While I empathize with the journalist’s attitude towards President Bush, and his focus on “freedom of speech,” we cannot allow people to throw things at the president. I was impressed with Bush’s quick reaction time. MSNBC reported that even “lefties” admitted their admiration for Bush’s fast moves.

But, there is more to the story. And none of it, best I know, is being reported on American television. There is what the journalist said, as he threw the shoes, reported by Egalia at the terrific site, “Tennessee Guerilla Women“:

Quote of the Day

“This is a farewell kiss, you dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.”
          – Muntadar al-Zaidi,
          the journalist who threw his shoes at Bush

I had heard that the journalist was very badly beaten outside the room by security guards, which is terrible enough. Journalists in the room could hear his screaming. But then there is this sickening report, damn it to hell, via Slun at FireDogLake:

“Shoe Thrower Being Tortured?“ …

Below are more detailed, and sickening, reports along with an ACTION we can all take.

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.

From Roads to Iraq:

Iraqi TV al-Sharqiya just reported on the news that AL-Zaidi is transferred to Camp Cropper prison [the Airport prison, managed by the American forces].

The TV Channel announced that Al-Zaidi is in a difficult condition, with broken ribs and signs of tortures on his thighs. Also he can not move his right arm.

I’ve checked the translation of this account with markfromireland of GorillasGuides who says this report sounds "about right" and is very credible. He also notes the reported injuries would be consistent with repeated severe kicking of Al Zaida.

Al Sharqiya is a major news outlet with a good reputation for credible reporting.

This news is not surprising given the consistent reports of abuse in both Iraqi and US detention centers. In fact, just today Human Rights Watch released a new report on the mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq and you can read it here.

Zeinobia has some great photos of Al Zaida at Egyptian Chronicles as well as some thoughts on reactions in Arabic communities.

Urgent appeals for Al Zaida’s safety should be made by phone to the White House – 202-456-1111 and the Iraqi Embassy – (202) 742-1600.

– Read all of Firedoglake’s “Shoe Thrower Being Tortured?”

I just don’t know.

I’m holding my head in my hands.

It is very hard to take in such terrible news.

And, most certainly, any humor or positive impressions of President Bush’s reaction time has completely disappeared from my outlook.

And President Bush, himself, should intercede.

But wait.

There is this, from Harper’s magazine:

The Torture Presidency

By Scott Horton

President George W. Bush has launched “Operation Legacy,” which he placed in the hands of his ultimate advisor, indeed his “brain,” Karl Rove. Remember Rove? He’s the man who refused to testify under oath when summoned by Congress to do so and was recently identified in a Congressional report as the plotter behind the U.S. Attorneys scandal, among other trainwrecks. The Rove effort features a 2-page set of talking points which have been circulated to members of the administration’s team highlighting the supposedly major Bush accomplishments which have begun to fill the American media. They start with the contention that “Bush kept us safe” by preventing any further attack on American soil after 9/11. Really?

Let’s just take a look at some of that “deranged” criticism. Indeed, let’s start with the criticism from the man tapped by Bush’s fellow Republicans to succeed him, John McCain. This week the Senate Armed Services Committee issued a powerful report, released jointly by chair Carl Levin and ranking member John McCain, that received the unanimous support of its Democratic and Republican members. The report concluded that Donald Rumsfeld and other high-level officials of the administration consciously adopted a policy for the torture and abuse of prisoners held in the war on terror. It also found that they attempted to cover up their conduct by waging a P.R. campaign to put the blame on a group of young soldiers they called “rotten apples.” Lawyers figure prominently among the miscreants identified. Evidently the torture policy’s authors then enlisted ethics-challenged lawyers to craft memoranda designed to give torture “the appearance of legality” as part of a scheme to create the torture program despite internal opposition. A declassified summary of the report can be read here; the full report is filled with classified information and therefore has been submitted to the Department of Defense with a request that the materials be declassified for release. (Don’t expect that to happen before January 20, however).

This report sums up all you need to know about George W. Bush’s eight years of leadership. Karl Rove stresses that Bush has been a perfect moral example for young people in the country. The report tells us that when photos and other evidence of abuse first surfaced, the Bush Administration firmly denied any connection between their policies and the abuse, then attempted to scapegoat a group of more than a dozen young recruits (but not, of course, any of their supervising officers, who knew the details of the administration’s involvement and would have made things messy if disciplined). The report puts these actions in an unforgiving light:

The abuse of detainees in U.S. custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of ‘a few bad apples’ acting on their own. The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees.

But of course, Bush only turned to torture to keep America safe, right? Wrong. With the unanimous support of its 12 Republican members, the Committee concludes:

The administration’s policies concerning [torture] and the resulting controversies damaged our ability to collect accurate intelligence that could save lives, strengthened the hand of our enemies, and compromised our moral authority.

The report has some more bombshells in it waiting to emerge on declassification. It studies with some care the introduction of specific torture techniques, showing how they were reverse engineered from the SERE program—used to prepare American pilots to resist interrogation techniques used by the Soviets, North Koreans, Chinese and North Vietnamese. By “reverse engineering,” we mean it was adopting the techniques used by the nation’s Communist adversaries in prior generations. We have met the enemy, and he looks remarkably like George W. Bush.

[...]

Read all.

When you have 12 Republicans concluding unanimously that Bush’s torture policies “strengthened the hand of our enemies, and compromised our moral authority,” we must demand that all of these programs cease, at once, on January 20, 2009.

And it will be up to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to begin the unenviable task — the monstrous burden — of undoing ALL the harm that has been caused worldwide by these horrific and unsuccessful cruel policies.