Taexalia

wild.life

Put a sock in it, George

Here's one I made earlier

Since 2003 the arms traders have been rubbing their dirty little hands together in glee, profiteering from the bloodshed in Iraq. There is no exact figure for the death toll but it is estimated that over one million Iraqis have been killed although the figure for documented deaths swings between 89,892 and 98,151 - it shocks me that we do not have a truly verifiable figure and that people are really un-people, that these are not the deaths that we hear about in the headlines.

In the headlines we hear about the 4209 US military personnel who have been killed, or the 178 UK military personnel who have been killed - and, based on my wee tour of Google this morning, if you aren't a member of the US or UK forces then your death is listed as "Other"...

But in the headlines this week we are not hearing about how many people died as bullets and bombs were thrown. No this week we are hearing about the throwing of shoes.

Yes it is an insult to throw shoes at a person, and I personally would consider it an assault if someone threw a pair of shoes at my head. I am not condoning the act in any way. But according to George W Bush, the man who instigated the throwing of bombs at a country, ~

"That's what happens in free societies."

Only George W Bush could turn such an espisode into yet another piece of rhetoric about how he has succeeded in bringing democracy and freedom to the Iraqi people with his dirty war.

Apparently, as a supposedly free society, we all throw shoes at each other when we disagree on something!

But what I find insidious about the whole thing is the report this morning that Muntazer al-Zaidi, the shoe throwing news reporter, is still being detained ~

"The government said he would be tried on charges of insulting the Iraqi state."

So mister Bush have you really created a free society where journalists are free to throw shoes to get attention, or have you created a free society where dissent against the state is still illegal?