Bush almost hit in head with shoes in Iraq

[RL3AO]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7782422.stm

Pretty good reflexes for a 62 year old.

[Ed Mahmoud]

I wonder if the shoe thrower was a member of the Sunni minority, maybe from Tikrit. The Ba'athists had it better in the old regime.

[JonathanBelles]

If thats all that gets thrown at him over there, he should consider himself lucky. For an unannounced visit, that room was packed, and I heard a few people speaking English (other than Bush).

[southerngale]

What a retard. Let me throw some shoes at the President of the United States.

[Brent]

How classy.

[cycloneye]

Here is another video.

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/po ... e.pool.cnn

What I see is that the Secret Service agents were a little slow in the initial response as the guy throws not only the first shoe but then he has a chance to throw the other one.Dana Perino,who is the Press Secretary of President Bush was hit with a microphone in the melee following the throwing of the shoes.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, however, was hit in the eye with a microphone as security guards scrambled to restrain the man, later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadiya television -- an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/electio ... ell-visit/

[HURAKAN]

This is nothing compared to the granade that was thrown at him in Ukrane and didn't explode.

"Assassination attempt
On May 10, 2005, Vladimir Arutyunian threw a live hand grenade toward a podium where Bush was speaking at Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Georgia. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili was seated nearby. It landed in the crowd about 65 feet (20 m) from the podium after hitting a girl, but it did not detonate. Arutyunian was arrested in July 2005, confessed, was convicted and was given a life sentence in January 2006."

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush#Presidency

[Stephanie]

I'm glad that he didn't get hurt, but it's ashame about Dana.

[Category 5]

I'm a Philadelphia sports fan, so I cannot condemn throwing things at people, but seriously is it worth the trouble he's going to get in just to THROW A SHOE?

[gtalum]

In Muslim culture, touching someone with the sole of your shoe is considered an ultimate form of disrespect. That's why the guy threw shoes.

That said, the president should have responded with "Who throws a shoe?!?! Honestly!"

[Extremeweatherguy]

In Muslim culture, touching someone with the sole of your shoe is considered an ultimate form of disrespect. That's why the guy threw shoes.

That said, the president should have responded with "Who throws a shoe?!?! Honestly!"

I thought the same thing! LOL. Austin powers was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the news clip about this incident yesterday.

[x-y-no]

I wonder if the shoe thrower was a member of the Sunni minority, maybe from Tikrit. The Ba'athists had it better in the old regime.

I heard he's from Sadr City (not sure about this though,) which would also make sense since the Sadrists, despite being Shia, have never really bought in to the current Iraqi government.

[HURAKAN]

[HURAKAN]

Iraq rally for Bush shoe attacker

Thousands of Iraqis have demanded the release of a local TV reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush at a Baghdad news conference.

Crowds gathered in Baghdad's Sadr City district, calling for "hero" Muntadar al-Zaidi to be freed from custody.

Officials at the Iraqi-owned TV station, al-Baghdadiya, called for the release of their journalist, saying he was exercising freedom of expression.

Iraqi officials have described the incident as shameful.

A statement released by the government said Mr Zaidi's actions, which also included him shouting insults at President Bush, "harmed the reputation of Iraqi journalists and Iraqi journalism in general".

Correspondents say the protesters are supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr - a leading critic of the US presence in Iraq. Smaller protests were reported in Basra and Najaf.

The Iraqi government has demanded an on-air apology from his employer.

An Iraqi official was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the journalist was being interrogated to determine whether anybody paid him to throw his shoes at President Bush.

He was also being tested for alcohol and drugs, and his shoes were being held as evidence, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV channel said Mr Zaidi should be freed because he had been exercising freedom of expression - something which the Americans had promised to Iraqis on the ousting of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

"Any measures against Muntadar will be considered the acts of a dictatorial regime," the firm said in a statement.

The programming director for al-Baghdadiya, Muzhir al-Khafaji, described the journalist as a "proud Arab and an open-minded man".

He said he was afraid for Mr Zaidi's safety, adding that the reporter had been arrested by US officials twice before.

"We fear that our correspondents in Iraq will be arrested. We have 200 correspondents there," he added.

'Proud Arab'

Mr Zaidi leapt from his chair at Sunday's news conference and hurled first one shoe and then the other at Mr Bush, who was joined at the podium by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.

The shoes missed as Mr Bush ducked, and Mr Zaidi was immediately wrestled to the ground by security guards and frogmarched from the room.

"This is a farewell kiss, you dog," he yelled in Arabic as he threw his shoes. "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

Arabic TV stations have been repeatedly showing footage of the incident, which was also front-page news in many papers.

Correspondents say the journalist's tirade was echoed by Arabs across the Middle East who are fed up with US policy in the region.

"He [George Bush] deserves to be hit with 100, not just one or two shoes. Who wants him to come here?" said a man in Baghdad.

But his view was not expressed by everyone.

"I think this incident is unnecessary, to be honest. That was a press conference, not a war. If someone wants to express his opinion he should do so in the proper manner, not this way," said another Baghdad resident.

Courts criticised

Also on Monday, Human Rights Watch accused Iraq's main criminal court of failing to meet basic international standards of justice.

The New York-based group said torture and abuse of prisoners before trial appeared common, and legal representation was often ineffectual.

Human Rights Watch said some of the court's failings showed disturbing similarities to those that existed during the Saddam Hussein era.

The group called on Iraq to take immediate steps to protect detainees from torture, and ensure they had access to proper defence and received a prompt hearing.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/w ... 783608.stm

[x-y-no]

The Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV channel said Mr Zaidi should be freed because he had been exercising freedom of expression - something which the Americans had promised to Iraqis on the ousting of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

I think freedom of expression stops somewhat short of throwing things at a person. That's more in the realm of aggravated assault.

[somethingfunny]

If you were to combine this idiot who threw his shoes at President Bush and the idiot who tried to blow up a plane with a shoe bomb a few years back, you'd have a capably dangerous idiot.

But if I said anything else about this incident I'd be getting into an inflammatory political post. I think we all ought to respect and support the president regardless of our own opinions...I feel he did the best he could under the circumstances. I might have done a few things differently but I'm a 20 year old pizza delivery driver, not the president. Unfortunately there are alot of people who feel like he has hurt them personally. Truthfully I'm glad nothing worse than an insult and a rubber sole was thrown at the president.

[coriolis]

I would have thrown them back at the guy.

[Category 5]

The Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV channel said Mr Zaidi should be freed because he had been exercising freedom of expression - something which the Americans had promised to Iraqis on the ousting of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

I think freedom of expression stops somewhat short of throwing things at a person. That's more in the realm of aggravated assault.

If someone did it here in America they'd sure as heck go to jail.

[coriolis]

Better yet, I would "wipe" the shoe on my behind and then throw it back at him.

[HURAKAN]

Better yet, I would "wipe" the shoe on my behind and then throw it back at him.

Not exactly presidential.

I think Bush did the right thing and make the incident as insignificant as possible. Like I said, the granade was worse and I don't remember it caused this kind of turmoil back then.