In the excerpt below, CNN includes only three of the twenty-one words (when translated) that al-Zaidi yelled, leaving out those that would pull Americans’ heartstrings most to more fully realize who we’ve actually killed in Iraq:
“This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.”
Omission is perhaps the most widely used technique to manipulate public opinion — what they don’t tell us.
But CNN also employs substitution. Many would not see the lack of quotes in the words they add:
“who launched the 2003 invasion of Iraq.”
The actual quote was much more powerful!
From: CNN
Al-Zaidi threw his shoes at Bush, while Bush and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki were holding a Sunday news conference after the president’s surprise visit to Baghdad. The journalist was dragged to the ground, hustled out of the room and arrested.
Shouting as he was dragged to the floor, the reporter called his shoe-throwing — a traditional insult in Arab culture — a “farewell kiss” to a “dog” who launched the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
From: Democracy Now!
In Baghdad, a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was interrupted when an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at President Bush. The shoes almost hit Bush in the head.
The journalist, Muntadar al-Zaidi, screamed in Arabic, “This is a farewell kiss, you dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.”
It’s what they don’t say.
Related: Meet the Man Who Threw His Shoes at Bush. Are We Getting It Yet?
John Johnson
I hope most Iraqi people know by now that a majority of Americans would be throwing their shoes at Bush. Of course, now we have to be more frugal with our shoe-throwing because Bush put our economy in the dumpster. This Iraqi journalist would fit right in over here in America.