Release Muntadhar al-Zeidi now!

I had to copy and paste the name of the journalist who threw two shoes at former President Bush. He is a foreigner and a Muslim, which may make it difficult for some Americans to relate with him.

Pardon my ignorance, but I don't know enough about Muslim names to know whether to address him by his first name or his last. Pardon me if I make a social blunder here, but Muntadhar, I would have given you my own shoes to throw. All of them. Maybe Bush wrecked your country, but he wrecked the U.S. economy. We have common cause insofar as Bush is concerned, although I suspect that Muntadhar probably wouldn't care much for my liberal beliefs.

Today, I read that an Iraqi court has sentenced him to serve three years. This is what Iraqi "freedom" really means. Do anything other than what's on the script and you will be tortured and imprisoned. (Muntadhar al-Zeidi was beaten by guards after he was apprehended.) Three years in prison, after he had signed an apology for the incident. Is this "freedom?"

If Bush had any scruples at all, he would have seen to it that his "assailant" was released. After all, no harm was done, save to President Bush's sense of dignity. The shoes missed. But even if the shoes had struck, would they have hurt? Would they have hurt as much as all the bullets and bombs exploding in that cesspool that Bush calls a beacon of democracy in the Middle East?

Three years will change Muntadhar al-Zeidi.

They will improve al-Zeidi's standing from the hero that he is today into a martyr of freedom. Al-Zeidi will go down in history as a victim of the lies, corruption and malice which was the Bush Administration, the most incompetent Administration in the history of the United States. Bush may have gotten away with his crimes, but as he said, let history be the judge. If not a hanging judge, then a damning one.