Posted on 12/16/2008 6:20:35 AM PST by vietvet67
President Bush says he saw his enemy's "sole" during a bizarre attack by an Iraqi journalist who hurled a pair of shoes at him on a farewell visit to Baghdad.
Muntazer al-Zaidi, a TV reporter, took off and flung his shoes at Mr Bush during a press conference in the Green Zone yesterday, shouting in Arabic as he did so: "This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."
The shoes narrowly missed the President's head as he stood behind a podium with Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, before clattering into a wall behind the two men.
Throwing shoes is particularly insulting in the Middle East - a crowd of Iraqis used their shoes to whack a toppled statue of Saddam Hussein after the 2003 invasion - and Mr al-Zaidi was today hailed as a hero across the region while colleagues called for his release.
The incident overshadowed Mr Bush's fourth and final visit to Iraq and the signature of a landmark accord setting a three-year timetable for the withdrawal of US forces - but the US President kept his composure, insisting that "he didn't feel the least threatened by it".
Mr al-Zaidi was quickly overpowered and bundled from the room after the attack. An Iraqi official said today that he was still being held and questioned at Mr al-Maliki's headquarters. His shoes, the official said, were being held as evidence.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Zaidi should have been hustled out of there and shot.
> His shoes, the official said, were being held as evidence.
Bags I they show up on e-Bay someday real soon. They ought to fetch a hi price with any muslim or Liberal.
Somebody with access to Iraq’s evidence locker is going to get really rich very soon...
He looked into his eyes and saw his “sole.”
Bush has freed more Arabs than anyone in history. They hate it.
You can’t shoet him without a fair trial. Then he can be shod at will.
Zaidi obviously had no relatives or friends tortured or gunned down by Saddam Hussein.
> Zaidi should have been hustled out of there and shot.
Yeah right: instant martyr. Then you could guarantee the West would be in Iraq for at least the next 100 years.
Not if we simply nuked them all.
Truman would have by now.
he was actually kidnapped by Saddam’s henchmen...
That was the cool George Bush - where has he been all these years?
YO MAMA!!
In the good old days maybe but Saddam isn't dictator anymore. Fine him $500, keep the shoes and spread the rumor that the authorities were being merciful in not revealing his public intoxication.
Nah, that’s how Saddam would’ve done it...well, Saddam would’ve used a wood chipper, but you get the idea. We’re working on getting this whole concept of “rule of law” taking hold in Iraq, so let’s let Shoe Boy get tried under Iraqi law, by an Iraqi court, and do some time in a new Iraqi jail.
}:-)4
To think this is what passes as journalism these days...what are these asshats going to do when W isn’t there to mock anymore. They might even have to get an original thought...the horror of it all.
Yeah..I posted earlier that he responded like a man who had a pair of shoes thrown at him before:')
Where was the Secret Service while this was going on???
Either of those shoes could have concealed explosives.
Why wasn’t that journalist shot dead on the spot???
And to those in the U.S. it is idiotic.
Having lunch with his bud Teddy Kennedy.
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