Word: maliki
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...threw the pair of shoes at President Bush on Sunday was a Shi'a Arab who for years has expressed his bitter frustration about the way things have gone in Iraq. Contacts in Iraq told me that the man came to despise the al-Maliki government because he believes it sold out not just to the U.S. but to Iran as well. He was furious that the al-Maliki government is fabulously corrupt and incompetent. How else can you explain the $100 billion of development money that disappeared down the rat holes in Washington and Baghdad? Or how the electricity...
...opponents of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, it was an Eid bonus. With the hubbub over the Status of Forces Agreement having died down, the movement led by the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr had run out of things to denounce: Zeidi's "heroism" was just what they needed to return to the streets, bearing the usual banners of protest and U.S. flags to burn. The Sadrists also made political hay of Zeidi in parliament, bringing it to a standstill. The gadfly speaker, Mahmoud Mashadani - no mean headline-grabber himself - threatened to resign.(See the Top 10 Awkward Moments...
...country with many problems, and the travails of one angry journalist can't distract people from government corruption, the absence of basic services and the continuing bombings and suicide attacks. The arrests of dozens of officials in the Interior and Defense ministries - allegedly for plotting the overthrow of Maliki's government - have already replaced Zeidi as the biggest story of the week. Baghdad is awash with rumors of an impending coup...
What will come of Zeidi himself? It falls on the Baghdad press corps to keep up pressure on the Maliki government to give their brother reporter a fair hearing in court. With a major election coming up next week, there's reason to hope that the Prime Minister may make a magnanimous (and vote-catching) gesture toward Zeidi...
...sentiment behind the shoe leather was widely shared: Iraq may have more of a future now than it did under Saddam, but Iraqis are never going to be grateful for having been invaded. (It's unclear what will become of al-Zaidi, but Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will undoubtedly be more lenient than Saddam would have been...