Across the pond

According to the Iraqui authorities, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the Iraqui journalist who threw his shoes at George W Bush at Sunday’s press conference now deeply regrets his behaviour. And The Guardian, which highlighted the allegations by his brother that he had been badly beaten up, on their web page yesterday, is silent about the incident in today’s printed newspaper.

And according to the Washington Post web page today, the allegations about his severe injuries are denied by another of his brothers.

So I was too quick off the trigger yesterday in lambasting the rest of the media for not telling us about his predicament. It was not my intention to encourage journalists to publish before they are reasonabrly sure of the facts.

But since the matter has received widespread publicity, and generated much anger amongst young Iraquis, it is surely valid to point out that the Iraqui authorities can easily kill the allegations, if they are untrue, by producing Al Zaidi for inspection by his family and his doctor.