Iraqi reporter throws shoes at Bush, calls him a dog

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

An Iraqi reporter called visiting U.S. President George W. Bush a "dog" in Arabic on Sunday and threw his shoes at him during a news conference in Baghdad.

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.

The shoes missed their target about 15 feet 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.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081214/pl_nm/us_iraq_bush_shoe

[rebeccajo 14]

Well, it's not cool for somebody to be throwing stuff at the President.

But it is kinda funny.

[daboyz 36]

I feel bad for the dogs being put in the same category.

[LorriQ 0]

I read it was a "victory lap" without a "clear victory". Nitwitism at it's finest!

[mawilson 2,133]

Why didn't he throw him a bone then?

[Pooky 3,784]

I thought you threw shoes at cats when they caterwaul late at night? All the comic strips say so.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

That's the least that little #### kicker deserves.

I hope the guy got his shoes back

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I hope the guy got his shoes back

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Maybe he is a misogynist.

[sara..... 371]

and the Iraqi security officers and U.S. secret service agents congratulated him after getting him away from the cameras

[rebeccajo 14]

Maybe he is a misogynist.

Before you get on the bandwagon, you gotta do your research.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Maybe he is a misogynist.

Before you get on the bandwagon, you gotta do your research.

I did. I just said it to be a funny reference to the two locked threads.

[웃 910]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/...farewell-visit/

"This is the end!" shouted the man, later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadiya television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt.

Bush ducked both throws. Neither leader was hit. In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt; Iraqis whacked a statue of Saddam Hussein with their shoes after U.S. Marines toppled it to the ground in 2003.

"All I can report," Bush joked of the incident, "is a size 10."

Edited December 14, 2008 by Confucian

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Showing the bottom of your shoe or the sole of it is a high insult in the Arab world.

The New York Times also has an article on it and full coverage of the video of the incident.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/world/mi...15prexy.html?em

[Caladan 19]

No offense meant to Olivia, but that part of the coverage made me laugh. Crazy orientalist media. Oooh, the mystical Arabs, where throwing shoes at people is an insult. Fortunately the media was there to explain this strange incident to Americans, who otherwise might have thought it was a sign of respect!