August 29, 2003
BABY GEORGE
Gianna will be upset that her favourite baby name is already taken:
An Iraqi couple has named their 6-week-old baby boy George Bush to show their appreciation for U.S. efforts to force Saddam Hussein out of power.
"He saved us from Saddam and that's why we named our son after him," the baby's mother, Nadia Jergis Mohammed, told the Associated Press Television News. "It was George Bush who liberated us; without him it wouldn't have happened."
Baby Bush was born July 11 to Mohammed, 34, and her husband Abdul Kader Faris, 41. His full name is George Bush Abdul Kader Faris Abed El-Hussein.
If the couple had had twin boys, the father wanted to name the other baby Tony Blair, because he said both the U.S. and Britain liberated Iraq.
”John Howard” is still available.
Posted by Tim Blair at August 29, 2003 04:34 PMLOL... that kid's gonna get seriously beaten up at school.
Posted by: LD at August 29, 2003 at 04:59 PMNo, no, this story can't be real. Why, just last night the world news said the Iraqis are turning against us because we haven't fully restored power in Baghdad. Sheesh, wake up and smell the quagmire. Or is that Peter Jenning's cologne?
Posted by: R.W. at August 29, 2003 at 05:02 PMOn the other hand you wont get too many Iraqi kids being named after John Pilger, Noam Chomsky or heaven forbid Phillip....... I couldn't bring myself to type that last word - after their efforts to bring about "peace". What a great article to end the week on - thanks Tim :)
Posted by: Rob at August 29, 2003 at 05:12 PMHrrmph - if they wanted their kid to get beaten up, they would have called him Robert Fisk.
Posted by: Jeremy at August 29, 2003 at 05:48 PMHis full name is George Bush Abdul Kader Faris Abed El-Hussein.
Darn - if they'da thrown a Wafiq somewhere in there the kid would've been George W. Hussein.
When I heard an Iraqi crying "Saddam Bush", I thought he was trying to paint the two as morally equivalent. Now it seems to be the name of his next son.
Posted by: Andjam at August 29, 2003 at 06:38 PM"It's a fair bet that one Baghdad baby won't run into anybody else in Iraq with the same name."
Yup, that's Fox News. Sinking their whole point in the lead para.
Jaysus Rupe, first the Al Franken debacle and then egregious subbing fuckups like this.
Time to put Col Allen in charge of FN.
Posted by: Elitism For The People at August 29, 2003 at 09:42 PMRW-
The Iraqis should realize that we just got power back on in New York.
Does anybody know what happened to all the kids who were born between December '02 and last March who were named "Jacques Chirac"? Are they still named Jacques Chirac today?
Posted by: Sean at August 30, 2003 at 03:11 PM