After hurling his black dress shoes at President George Bush last week, Muntader al-Zaidi, a journalist for an independent Iraqi television station, is being hailed as somewhat of a hero. (Word is that he was given an award for courage in Libya.) Also, according to Tim Redmond over at SFBG, just after tossing his heels, Muntader al-Zaidi had the proverbial crap kicked out of him.

Iraqi security forces have beaten him pretty badly -- they "kicked him and beat him until he was crying like a woman,” said Mohammed Taher, a reporter for Afaq, a television station owned by the Dawa Party. You can hear him howling on the YouTube video; it's almost painful to listen.

While saying it's dead wrong to throw anything at a president, Redmond goes on to suggest that we "call on Bush to ask the prime minister of Iraq to pardon Muntader al-Zaidi" (which, really, would be a much-needed gentlemanly gesture on Bush's part.) And we agree, but only because anyone who provides such top-notch entertainment should be pardoned.

But what say you? Take our poll to find out if you're a pinko commie tool or an apologist for tortured journalists.