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Iraqi Reporter Throws Shoes at Bush, Calls Him 'Dog'
Iraqi security officers and U.S. secret service agents leapt at the man and dragged him struggling and screaming out of the room where Bush was giving a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
THIS IS THE FAREWELL KISS, YOU DOG! "This is a gift from the Iraqis. This is the farewell kiss, you dog," the journalist shouted (in Arabic), Steven Lee Myers of The New York Times reported in a pool report to the White House press corps.
Myers reported that the man threw the second shoe and added: "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."
Journalists at the scene said the hurler was Muntadar al-Zaidi, a reporter for Al-Baghdadia TV, an independent satellite channel based in Cairo.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci) The shoes missed their target about 15 feet (4.5 metres) away. One sailed over Bush's head as he stood next to Maliki and smacked into the wall behind him. Bush smiled uncomfortably and Maliki looked strained.
"It doesn't bother me," Bush said, urging everyone to calm down as a ruckus broke out in the conference room.
When asked about the incident shortly after, Bush made light of it. "I didn't feel the least threatened by it," he said.
Other Iraqi journalists apologised on behalf of their colleague, a television journalist.
Bush arrived in Baghdad earlier on Sunday on a farewell visit before he leaves office in January. The U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein triggered years of sectarian bloodshed and insurgency in Iraq, killing tens of thousands.
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213 Comments so far
Show AllGive that man a medal for bravery and honesty.
I hope they don't don't torture him before murdering him.
Sophie Scholl-The Final Days
The guy is now a hero. Bush is still an idiot.
Somebody make a T-shirt commemorating this incident. I'll buy a dozen.
Can I throw a few virtual shoes at the chimp?
Why should it bother him to have shoes thrown at him? His policies initiated the deaths of hundreds of thousands of them. Gee, I wonder which is worse?
And what is he doing there at the scene of the crime anyway? Is that all he got? A shoe? He got off easy!
Hopefully the next person planning such a stunt will first send the shoe around so we can all sign it.
Hee hee - so true! That would have to be a BIG shoe.
"It doesn't bother me," Bush said . . .
Oh, yes, it does. Yes, it most certainly does. The guy could've had a machine gun. The problem is, George Wanker Bush is so fucking stupid he doesn't get the symbolism behind the flying shoes. Bush probably thinks the guy works for Zappos.
Or an ordinary hand grenade. That being said, I'm actully glad he didn't. I would much prefer bush to be properly hanged after being found guilty at a war crimes trial.
Go to change.gov and tell PE Obama to MAKE IT HAPPEN!
Yeah, I agree with the whole "quaint" due process thing. Try him first. Fair public trial. If he's found guilty of capital crimes, which he likely will be, hang the bastard.
The journalist gets his ass kicked over a couple shoes. The one who should be getting his ass kicked is the smug chimpanzee at the podium. I'm sure his reflexes were honed during that childhood he spent getting smacked around by his dad. You gotta admit he was pretty quick ducking those shoes.
Who would have guessed that someone throwing shoes would be so seriously inspiring? I'm honestly proud of the guy. I wish more people had that kind of moxie.
Finally an example of honest journalism. If one of our reporters had done this in 2003 perhaps an Iraqi wouldn't have had to in 2008. Pay attention press corp.
It took an Iraqi to show us what we should have done to our illegal White House squatter in this country long, long ago - though it should have been an impeachment book that we threw at the criminal.
The bastard can't even be honest about, or even feel, his own feelings, which is the basis of his, and ultimately our, problems in the first place. Commander Guy isn't bothered by anything.
I just heard Dana Perrino got a shiner out of being hit by a microphone. Poor baby. But she is lucky - as Mordechai said, "The guy could've had a machine gun."
These people ARE idiots, and get only a small smidgen of what they deserve.
Poetic justice.
Hoa binh
no, it doesn't bother him; having a shoe flying over-head is much different than bombs exploding over-head (Iraqui experience).
"tens of thousands" killed? Too bad the short article didn't mention the various exhibits of shoes travelling around the country: shoes of the dead soldiers (I saw a symbolic amount of them when there was a reading of the names of the dead in Iraq, civilians and military,in Times Square in March,2007 in front of the US Military Recruiting Station,see www.grannypeacebrigade.org for photos.), shoes of dead civilians in Iraq,..
I remember it here in town, when I attended.
It is heartbreaking.
There is a great artist in Salt Lake City, Cordell Taylor, who had a studio beneath mine. He participated in a display of combat boots here commemorating those Americans murdered by that fucknut shoe-dodger. It's really sad. My brother's over there. I studied international relations in a political science degree. I read PNAC documents pre-911.
Two words: Fuck. Them. Lying, murderous sacks of shit.
They all need shoes thrown at them. Actually, rocks. Or worse.
loveandjustice:I'll google Cordell Taylor to see if his art is online.* Got to say, as an older woman, I do have trouble with some of those F words,etc. I did want to say that I'm so sorry your brother is there. I'd like to throw the law at them, not rocks.
Wow:I was a social studies major, then Amer. Civ. in grad school until I made the break to art. I applaud anyone who could sit through international relations. I was in that "club" in my teachers college and got to go to a conference in NYC but not allowed to leave for a visit of a couple of hours, to see my family.
What kind of art are you doing in your studio?
I just remember somebody for you to google: Emily Duffy, her political sculpture. You'll like it. She had a show in Oct. in CA.
*I did. Nice website. Sculpture looks good. Am slightly "green",which is good. As I sit typing instead of doing work in my studio.
I apologize for the F-words. I just get so angry at the fact that people I love are either blinded by the Bush BS, or tossed into war for the basic fact that they joined a paramilitary organization they thought was formed for the purpose of domestic defense and catastrophe relief at home (i.e. the National Guard).
I also know they're lying about what it is they're trying to accomplish "over there". I've read the documents where the neofascists brag about what it is they expect to accomplish with regard to the Caspian Basin, the Afghan heights, the Persian gulf, etc. Control the energy supply, establish permanent military bases in the most strategically significant locations on the planet.
Oh, my bad. it's about "spreading democracy", "human rights" blah blah blah.
Sorry, I can't stand it.
My biggest art form is paper mache'. I've been specializing in puppets and effigies. I'll give you one guess as to who was caricaturized in my magnum opus of the last decade.
Hint: shoe-dodger.
"I apologize for the F-words."
That was kind of you.
And you have a good point about the National Guard. Most people join thinking they will protect their state during disasters or protect their country from attack. This was a perversion of their real role and the fault of Bill Clinton and Cheney/Donald Rumsfield. I'll get a few rocks for you if you are going to throw some at them too.
We saw an exhibit of dusty boots belonging to soldiers killed in Iraq. Also Iraqi shoes, which included mens' womens' and childrens' shoes. Some were very little.
Joe
That was chilling. Memories suck.
Not to be flippant here, but wasn't that SEVEN words? : )
I like your comment though. Can't we bring back tarring and feathering?
Calling him a 'Dog' is being too kind.
A dog would be too many steps up the evolutionary ladder for that slime.
It's a shame this guy insulted dogs. I expect this is not the last time Bush will receive well deserved abuse. It will probably go on for the rest of his miserable life, but I would prefer he faced an international court for war crimes.
The one thing that bothered me most about this article is that even after all the lies western news media continues the travesty: "...years of sectarian bloodshed and insurgency in Iraq, killing tens of thousands."
Can Reuters not count? The present estimates are well over the million mark and Reuters should not be putting out revisionist propaganda to support the US lies or those of their puppet Iraqi government under occupation.
I just watched the video, the guy was right on target. Bush had to duck both times.
Of course W is good at ducking. He has been ducking responsibility his whole life.
They were pretty good throws though, maybe some major league scout should look him up. After all they were searching in India for a new pitcher.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2008-11-04-india-pitchers_N.htm
Let's hope the reporter doesn't Gitmo than he bargained for.
Wow. Witty, but wow.
Terran December 14th, 2008 2:34 pm: "Let's hope the reporter doesn't Gitmo than he bargained for."
LOL -- I hope this anonymous Iraqi hero/journalist realizes there are tens of millions of Americans who want Junior to get the boot as well.
shame he missed..............
and shame he wasn't wearing steel capped toed construction boots...............
Too bad it wasnt a USA-made grenade, sold to Iran by Rummy or Reagan...
Interesting response from the outgoing president to a symbolic act literally 'sailing over his head'. The protective power security response always
assumes that response to their choices will be as destructive and violent as that in which they engage.
I truely do not want to see Bush and the major players 'hanged' or physically harmed. But called to account - most definitely; and placed in long-term service to research on the distortions and machinations that have been spun into 'reasonable' "policy".
Even if this does not happen with their presence, it must occur in their absence.
Don't you like the way the right has come up with the new slogan "I don't think we should look back" when it comes to dealing with anything the bush administration has done. McCain parroted it this morning on This Week with George S.
So a guy robs several banks, kills a dozen people and destroys several buildings. He's caught and tried. His defense lawyer says to the judge, "I don't think we should look back." The judge thinks about it. The defendent isn't doing anything at the moment, so he bangs the gavel and declares, "Case dismissed!"
Very well stated
If you are a nobody and rob a bank, you get ten years or more in the can, but if you are W and rob the country blind, kill hundreds of thousands of people, practice torture, maintain a concentration camp where people are held arbitrarily for years on end, and screw international laws and treatises, Congress and the entire judiciary look the other way.
."Those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it"
.
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
This was an early christmas present.
FYI to the other habituates of this site: the action taken by the journalist is just about the most insulting that can be taken by an Arab to another man. In Arab culture, the lowest insult is to be called a dog (Islam in general, and Arabs in particular, abhor dogs), and striking with a shoe is equally disrespectful (remember the pictures of the crowds striking the Saddam statue with their shoes?). This very well maybe a prelude to what life will be like for Dubya after Jan. 20, 2009; if so, it is well deserved at the least.
www.wunderman-comics.com
HEY!
Isn't that Rob Riggle, the guy that just left The Daily Show?!
AWESOME!
Let me know when the web-game comes out where WE CAN ALL THROW SHOWS AT ALL THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!
SOMEBODY!!! DESIGN A VIDEO GAME!!! PLEASE!!! DISTRIBUTE IT FOR FREE ON FACEBOOK!!!
It takes a lot of Gall for Bush to show his gace there! What an arrogant bastard he is!
He was lucky that's all he got thrown at him..
Well I guess if we were wondering how the 43rd President would be remembered .....
What size are your shoes?
Size 9 (lol)
Darn! You won't be allowed to go to a GWB press conference. I believe the White House press Corp will only allow size 10's to attend from now on.
Thomas,
I have a plan. I going to borrow my friend's size ten shoes and stuff the toes with tissue. (lol)\
"I believe the White House press Corp will only allow size 10's to attend from now on."
Thomas,
You have no idea how many times I wanted to throw something/anything at the Washington Press Corps. Damn near threw a newly opened Heineken at my TV screen one night while watching a President Bush "news conference." I finally came to my senses and turned off my TV and drank my beer in peace. As a matter of fact, I drank several. (lol)