‘Bush shoe-thrower’ says pro-Assad video is to ‘politically defame him’

The Iraqi journalist who made headlines when he threw shoes at former U.S. President George Bush is back in the news, but this time, for a controversial appearance in a recent YouTube video in which he allegedly shows his support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The video, which has attracted 42,717 views since it was published on Tuesday, shows famed shoe-thrower Muntadhar al-Zaidi standing before a podium and addressing Assad supporters in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.

Zaidi can be seen being cheered at with chants “America go out, Iraq is free,” as he deplores external interference in the region. At the same Aleppo congregation crowds were to welcome Lebanon’s famed media personality and presenter of the Arab version of “Who Wants to be a Billionaire,” George Qirdahi, who is known for his pro-Assad stance.

Adviser to Assad on media issues, Bouthaina Shaaban, was also expected to attend the gathering.

However, in a phone conversation with Al Arabiya, the Beirut-based Zaidi said that “the video is fabricated,” adding that the event was filmed last year, when the situation was rather ambiguous in Syria – and its recent uploading is a doctored version.

While the nickname of the video maker was Yemenigreen, Zaidi said that “the person who directed the video is a person I am close to and who I knew in Iraq. But some people who are in power in Iraq … fabricated this video to bring my political downfall both in Iraq and in the region.”

‘All Syrians are our brothers’

Zaidi rejected the division of Syrians and chose to see the situation in the country from a neutral point of view.

“All Syrians, whether they support or oppose the regime, are our brothers and sisters, and what harms them, harms us, and the opposite is true.”

Asked about the video, Zaidi said that “I wanted to invite Syrians to hold on to nationalism, and to reject any conspiracy against their country [but] that does not mean that Syria does not need any reforms. I told a Syrian magazine before that if reforms in Syria are not whole or complete, I would be the first to join the bandwagon of peaceful protesters.”

Zaidi blamed both sides for the bloodshed adding that “those who are guilty should be held accountable.” He also urged the Syrian people to exercise rationality, whether as supporters of the regime, or opponents.

“I visited Syria last year, and I went to the opposition area, and sat down with the opposition and peaceful protesters in al-Muathamiya (western Damascus), I asked them if they wanted me to a mediator of peace, but unfortunately no one hears me, none from the opposition or the regime.”

While he expressed his regrets about the U.S. and Israel “infiltrating the opposition,” he said he is nevertheless “not pro the regime as his principles do not allow him.”

He said he favors all the Arab revolutions without any exceptions, but “we cannot copy paste all of the revolutions.

“The Syrian and the Bahraini revolutions have to mature, there needs to be dialogue just like the case in Egypt and Tunisia.”

Asked if there will be any imminent revolution in Iraq, he said that “there was already a revolution in Iraq but the government suppression together with U.S., Arab and Iraqi media ignoring it,” have led to its demise.

He said thousands of protesters last year were to demonstrate against sectarianism and the government failure by walking from the Sunni mosque, Abu Hanifa al-Numan, to a Shiite one in Kathimiya in Baghdad.

But government created blockades and some protesters were tortured while others were killed. He said he, along with other activists, were held in solitary confinement for three days.

The journalist who is now based in Lebanon, is planning to form a nationalist political movement inclusive of all Iraqis. He said that the movement has more than 100 members who are mainly intellectuals, and includes Arabs, Turkmens, Kurds, Shiite, Sunnis and Christians.

Attempting to seize the opportunity of his fame for their elections campaigns, many Iraqi political blocs have invited him to join, he said but when he rejected their offers, they fired back.

Before Tuesday’s video, on June 5 the famed journalist also created a buzz on YouTube, when less than a minute’s snippet of his marriage ceremony galvanized the attention of 26,998 viewers.