Not one but two shoes thrown at the president of the most powerful nation on earth! I will never forget those two or three seconds as those leather shoes — size 10s according to U.S.President George W. Bush — spun through the air, missing the president’s head by inches.
At news conferences in the Middle East, it is common for some less professional and obsequious journalists to leap up and sing the praises of a dignitary at the podium. But when Baghdadiya television journalist Muntather al-Zaidi lurched forward and threw the first shoe, I and everyone else in the room was stunned. There was silence, broken only by the shoe thrower calling Bush a dog. And then another shoe flew, and pandemonium broke loose.
Hitting someone with your shoes is possibly the worst insult in the Middle East. The second worst is probably calling someone a dog. Bush got both.
U.S. and Iraqi security men leapt at the journalist, who yelped and shouted as he was dragged into another room. Bush jokingly said the shoes were size 10s, and a visibly embarrassed Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said the shoe thrower was an immature man not worthy of respect.
But for many in Iraq, devastated by years of bloodshed following Bush’s decision to invade in 2003, and for others around the world annoyed by one of the least popular U.S. presidents, Zaidi may be seen as a hero.
Bush and Maliki resumed the news conference after the incident, and answered questions about a recent security pact hailed as a milestone in improving ties between the United States and Iraq — the shoe-thrower’s shouts from another room audible as they spoke.
Bush went on to describe Iraq as having taken an “important step on the road toward an Iraq that can sustain itself, govern itself and defend itself”.
At least one Iraqi on that road will have to walk barefoot for a while — if and when he is allowed to go free.
(Reuters photo: President Bush ducks as a shoe is thrown/Kevin Lamarque)
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Bush and imperialism are so bad in the world, it’s an answer against crimes.
- Posted by ClearThe journalist who threw shoes at Bush was tortured to the extent that his ribs and arm were broken. ” War on Terror ” or ” War of Terror”?
- Posted by imranNOTE: Speaking of shoes and the White House, Skip Mendler of Honesdale, PA has a great idea. He suggests that everyone who is disgusted with the outgoing Bush/Cheney administration send a shoe to the White House. Just imagine a pile up of a million smelly old running shoes in the White House mailroom! I think he’s got something. Spread the word!
- Posted by leaThe photos of al-Zaidi kiss of the shoe are as good as those of the Chinese guy who stopped the tanks on the way to Tiananmen.
- Posted by Survivor?Its a pity the Americans can’t tar and feather Bush and tie him to a railroad car full of pigs to run him out of town.
To bring such hatred and then such humiliation on a nation …
He is a hero in my books. Someone finally found the courage to do what the rest of the world has been wanting to do for the past 8yrs. To bad he missed both times, I wish that he had at least succeeded once. I would like to thank him for the courage.
- Posted by MimiHow history is rewritten and Americans brainwashed - we put Saddam into power in Iraq for own devious purposes. We are still there for the same purposes. Mainly to manipulate the world as we need for our corporate empire and selfish desires.
- Posted by Jose GomezNorwegian entertainment!
http://flash.vg.no/grafikk/2008/bush/kas t_sko.html
This is the “throw a shoe on Bush” -game.
In the upper curve you adjust the angle.
In the lower curve you adjust the strength.
And if that wasn’t it, this guy has 3 shoes!
(When it pops yellow you have a hit, when it is red you must throw again)
Kast skoen = Throw the shoe
- Posted by Tiril AubyKast igjen = Throw again
a waste of a perfectly good pair of shoes
- Posted by zulfkar buttA humiliating send off for the President of the United Sates.
- Posted by GodfreyTypical Bush.. in a perfect end to a perfect presidency, he’s too ignorant and ethnocentric to understand that he’s just been given the ‘honor’ of another culture’s two highest forms of insult. You can see his trademark smirk even as the first shoe flies. Idiot.
- Posted by johnThe reportet just wanted Mr. Bush to get a sense of his sole.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/139279 1.stm
He hoped to leave an impression.
- Posted by James BalounThis is an Iraqi way of saluting a war criminal like Bush especially at a farewell visit. I very much hope next time the next Iraqi shoes will not miss their intended target or targets.
- Posted by alazzawi29