Thursday, December 18, 2008
al-Hobson's choice
Poor Maliki of Iraq, stuck with a very public and very difficult decision as elections approach. To prosecute Muntazer al-Zeidi to the fullest for assaulting a head of state or release him to the heros welcome he would get.
Iraq and the entire region is watching what happens next to this formerly little-known Iraqi journalist. That leaves Maliki with few good options. The prime minister has worked hard in the past year to cultivate his nationalist bona fides, increasingly pushing back against Washington and driving a hard bargain on a recently approved bilateral security pact with the U.S. Yet those finely honed patriotic credentials could crumble if Maliki deals harshly with Zeidi.Convict him and let him go out the back door of the court house seems to be the best idea available. Whatever he does will not happen until Zeidi heals from the requisite police beating he received at his arrest.
Still, it's doubtful that Zeidi will be released without trial, despite the intense public pressure, merely because such public affronts to leaders are extremely rare in the Middle East and unlikely to go unpunished. Justice must not only be done but be seen to be done and so Zeidi will most likely be tried and then either released with a fine or a muted sentence, according to several parliamentarians. Few doubt that he will not be convicted. "It's about what happens after the conviction," says Othman. "Maliki could do something about it then, pardon him or release him with a fine. Many people support Zeidi." Othman adds: "People will blame Maliki if he is sentenced, or if he's been tortured... and we are in an election year." Maliki must tread lightly, to make sure that most disdained item of clothing in the Arab world, the shoe, doesn't trample his ambitions at the ballot box.
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