1. YouTube - George Bush vs Shoes and Pissed Off Journalist 12-14-08

2. YouTube - Angry Iraqi throws shoes at President Bush in Baghdad

3. Iraqi Throws Shoes at Bush - Video - YouTube

4. RateVin.com - Bush Shoe Site Youtube.com YouTube Bush Shoe

5. APFN - YOUTUBE: Iraqi Reporter Throws Shoes At Bush

6. Minor Ripper: YouTube Video of Shoes Getting Thrown at Bush in Iraq
   

Iraqi reporter throws shoes at Bush in Baghdad

 2008-12-15 03:11:27  

    BAGHDAD, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) --

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

    Muntadhar al-Zaidi, reporter of Al-Baghdadiya television jumped and threw his two shoes one by one at the president, who ducked and thus narrowly missed being struck, raising chaos in the hall in Baghdad's heavily fortified green Zone.

    "This is a farewell kiss, dog," said Zaidi.

    Several security members wrestled the man to the floor and then dragged him out of the hall as he was screaming.

    However, Bush tried to show himself calm and said "all I can report is it is a size 10."

    "I didn't feel the least threatened by it," Bush also said, adding that "it doesn't bother me" before he and Maliki leave the conference room.

    Earlier in the day, Bush arrived Baghdad in an unannounced visit, just 36 days before he leaves office in January.

Editor: Yan

Saddam's lawyer offers to defend Iraqi journalist

2008-12-15 21:18:31

    AMMAN, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) --

Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer, on Monday offered to defend the Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush who came to Iraq on a farewell visit.

    The lawyer said in Jordan's capital of Amman that he made the decision on Sunday night soon after the incident and he now seeks to form a lawyer team to defend for the journalist.

    The journalist should be released, stressed Dulaimi.

    At a news conference Bush held on Sunday in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, reporter of Baghdadiya television, jumped and threw his two shoes one by one at Bush and called him a "dog" in Arabic.

    Bush ducked and narrowly missed being struck, but the journalist was wrestled by several security members to the floor and then dragged out of the hall as he was screaming.

    Bush arrived Baghdad earlier on Sunday in an unannounced visit, just 36 days before he leaves office in January.

Bush shoe thrower cools his heels in jail

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) --

Mon, December 15, 2008

An Iraqi TV reporter who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush during a news conference remained in custody Monday while judicial officials decided whether to charge him with assault.

A government official, who requested anonymity, said Muntadhar al-Zaidi, a journalist for Al-Baghdadi, was being tested for alcohol and drugs to determine his state of mind.

Al-Zaidi whipped off his shoes and flung them at Bush during the U.S. leader's unannounced stop in Baghdad on Sunday. He called the protest a "farewell kiss" to (you) "dog" who launched the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Bush swiftly ducked the flying footwear and told reporters aboard Air Force One afterward that the "bizarre" incident was not a sign of popular opinion in Iraq.

"I don't know what the guy said, but I saw his sole," he joked.

Al-Zaidi's arrest drew an angry protest on Monday in Baghdad's Sadr City by followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and calls from his Iraq-owned, Egyptian-based network for his release.

Al-Baghdadia demanded its reporter's release late Sunday "in accordance with democracy and freedom of expression Iraqis were promised by the new era and American authorities," it said in a statement read on air. The channel also ran what it said were messages of support from viewers in a crawl at the bottom of the screen.

"What Muntadhar did represents the biggest test for the United States and the Iraqi government -- if they release him or continue detaining him," network spokesman Abdul Hamid al-Saeh said.

The network said any actions taken against the reporter would be reminiscent of the "violent acts, random arrests, mass graves and personal and public freedoms taken away" during the rule of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein. It called on other Arab countries and journalists to support al-Zaidi's release.

Bush appeared to take the incident in stride, saying during the news conference that "I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it." Later, he referred to Al-Baghdadi as a "Ba'athist TV station" -- a reference to Hussein's now-banned ruling party.

But al-Saleh told CNN: "We are against Saddam Hussein, and at the same time we want Iraq's liberation from the Americans."

Al-Zaidi -- in his late 20s -- is from Sadr City, the Shi'i neighborhood where angry protesters marched to demand the journalist's release, protest the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement, and urge the withdrawal of American troops.

Hurling any object is a form of hostility, but in Arab culture, throwing a shoe or striking someone with one is the ultimate form of contempt.

And the demonstration, the imagery of the shoe-throwing incident conjured anger and pride.

Calling Bush the devil, a Sadrist cleric addressing the crowd condemned the visit of "the leader of evil and terror" and said the president was humiliated in a visit that was meant to celebrate achievements.

Protesters placed a shoe atop a pole with a note saying "Go Out USA."

Demonstrators chanted: "Listen Bush, we got you out with a pair of shoes," "if we run out of ammunition we will hit them with shoes," and "America out now."

They carried banners calling for al-Zaidi's release and hoisted flags and posters of Shiite clerics.

One demonstrator described Bush as a "terrorist ... whose hands are covered in children and women's blood. Another pounded a U.S. flag with his shoe, and the flag was torched by protesters. A third pretended to auction the shoe that hit Bush.

Another reporter who works for al-Baghdadiya had a more somber reaction to al-Zaidi's predicament.

He said his colleague awoke daily to the cries of widows and funerals and U.S. airstrikes on Sadr City.

Bush later traveled to Afghanistan, where he said U.S.-led forces would maintain their pursuit of Taliban militants, but warned there would be no quick victory.

"They can hide, but we can stay on the hunt," Bush said. "We will keep the pressure on them, because it's in the peaceful people of Afghanistan's interest just like it's in the interest of this country.

"Are there still difficult days ahead? Absolutely," he said. "But are conditions a lot better than they were than they were in 2001? Unquestionably, undoubtedly they're better."

Afghanistan was the original front in the war on the al Qaeda terrorist network launched after the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. A U.S. invasion swiftly deposed the Taliban, the Islamic militia that had harboured al Qaeda, but the leaders of both movements escaped and remain on the run.

Nearly 40,000 U.S. and NATO troops are still in Afghanistan, with the Pentagon expected to shift another three U.S. brigades into the fight by summer. The war has cost the coalition 1,018 dead to date, including 624 Americans.

Iraq has been far more costly to the United States with more than 4,200 Americans killed and costs estimates of more than $600 billion.

But violence has declined sharply over the past 18 months as former Sunni Arab insurgents turned against Islamic jihadists loyal to al Qaeda in Iraq, who were blamed for some of the worst attacks of the 5-year-old war.

About 130,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, but a recent agreement between Washington and Baghdad calls for American combat units to be out of Iraqi cities next June and to leave the country entirely by the end of 2011.

A U.S.-led army invaded Iraq in March 2003 after months of accusations from the Bush administration that it was harboring weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. inspectors later found that Iraq had dismantled its weapons programs in the 1990s, though it had tried to conceal some weapons-related research from the United Nations.

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's government collapsed after less than a month of fighting, and Hussein was executed in 2006. But an insurgency against U.S. troops, led mostly by Sunnis in northern and western Iraq, spread quickly and embroiled the United States and its allies in years of bloodshed.

Estimates of the Iraqi death toll range from nearly 90,000 to the hundreds of thousands.

Demonstrators in Sadr City urge journalist’s release

December 15, 2008 - 11:11:43

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

Residents of Baghdad’s eastern Sadr City on Monday took to the streets calling for the release of Muntadher Al-Zaydi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadiya satellite channel who threw a pair of shoes at U.S. President George Bush during a joint press conference with the Iraqi premier.

The demonstrators headed towards the headquarters of the Iraqi press syndicate in Baghdad’s northern area of al-Waziriya. President Bush quickly ducked when a pair of shoes was hurled at him Sunday.

Al-Zaydi, a young man of no more than 30 years old, has worked for Al-Baghdadiya since its establishment in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. He had been kidnapped two years ago by unidentified gunmen while stepping out of his home in Al-Bab Al-Sharqi area, central Baghdad. A week later he was found lying on the ground near auto selling stores in Al-Nahda square, Baghdad, at a late night hour.

Al-Zaydi is considered one of the journalists outspokenly criticizing the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq. He had written several reports opposing the U.S. military presence in the country.

To Iraqis, the incident represented a major insult to the U.S. president.

SS (P)/SR

National media center demands al-Baghdadiya channel to apologize

December 15, 2008 - 01:38:30

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

The national media center on Monday demanded Al-Baghdadiya satellite television, for which Muntadher Al-Zaydi who threw a pair of shoes at U.S. President George Bush during a joint press conference with the Iraqi premier, is working, to publicly apologize.

“At the time we condemn this act, we demand the facility the correspondent is working for to present its apology publicly for this act damaged the reputation of Iraqi journalists and journalism in general,” the center said in a statement received by Aswat al-Iraq.

President Bush quickly ducked when a pair of shoes were hurled at him on Sunday.

“This is a gift from the Iraqis. This is the farewell kiss, you dog,” Al-Zaydi shouted in Arabic as he threw his shoe at Bush during a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The shoe narrowly missed the president’s head.

The man, a correspondent for Al-Boghdadiya television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, then pulled off his other shoe and chucked it, yelling, “This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.”

Bush ducked again as al-Maliki put out his arm to block the shoe.

Secret Service and Iraqi security agents pounced on al-Zaydi. They wrestled him to the ground before dragging him from the room.

An Iraqi government official says al-Zaydi is being held for questioning by Maliki’s guards and is being tested for alcohol and drugs.

Bush brushed off the incident. “It’s like going to a political rally and have people yell at you. It’s a way for people to draw attention,” the president said.

Zaydi, a young man of no more than 30 years old, has worked for al-Boghdadiya since its establishment in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. He had been kidnapped two years ago by unidentified gunmen while stepping out of his home in al-Bab al-Sharqi area, central Baghdad. A week later he was found lying on the ground near auto selling stores in al-Nahda square, Baghdad, at a late night hour.

Zaydi is considered one of the journalists outspokenly criticizing the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq. He had written several reports opposing the U.S. military presence in the country.

SH (S)/SR

Bush's Iraq-Afghan farewell tour marred by dissent

By JENNIFER LOVEN AP White House Correspondent

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) --

Dec 15, 2008 9:28 AM EST

President George W. Bush wrapped up a whirlwind trip to two war zones Monday that in many ways was a victory lap without a clear victory. A signature event occurred when an Iraqi reporter hurled two shoes at Bush, an incident the president called "a bizarre moment."

Bush visited the Iraqi capital just 37 days before he hands the war off to his successor, Barack Obama, who has pledged to end it. The president wanted to highlight a drop in violence and to celebrate a recent U.S.-Iraq security agreement, which calls for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.

"The war is not over," Bush said, but "it is decisively on its way to being won."

Bush then traveled to Afghanistan where he spoke to U.S. soldiers and Marines at a hangar on the tarmac at Bagram Air Base. The rally for over a thousand military personnel took place in the dark, cold pre-dawn hours. Bush was greeted by loud cheers from the troops.

"Afghanistan is a dramatically different country than it was eight years ago," he said. "We are making hopeful gains."

But the president's message on progress in the region was having trouble competing with the videotaped image of the angry Iraqi who hurled his shoes at Bush in a near-miss, shouting in Arabic, "This is your farewell kiss, you dog!" The reporter was later identified as Muntadar al-Zaidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadiya television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt.

In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt. Iraqis whacked a statue of Saddam with their shoes after U.S. Marines toppled it to the ground following the 2003 invasion.

Bush told reporters later that he didn't think "you can take one guy throwing shoes and say this represents a broad movement in Iraq. You can try to do that if you want but I don't think that would be accurate."

Reaction in Iraq was swift but mixed, with some condemning the act and others applauding it. Television news stations throughout Iraq repeatedly showed footage of the incident, and newspapers carried headline stories.

In Baghdad's (predominantly) Shi'i district of Sadr City, supporters of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for protests against Bush and demanded the release of the reporter. Thousands took to the streets Monday, chanting, "Bush, Bush, listen well: Two shoes on your head."

Talking to a small group of reporters after the incident, Bush said, "I didn't know what the guy said, but I saw his sole." He told the reporters that "you were more concerned than I was. I was watching your faces."

"I'm pretty good at ducking, as most of you know," Bush joked, adding quickly that "I'm talking about ducking your questions."

On a more serious note, he said, "I mean, it was just a bizarre moment, but I've had other bizarre moments in the presidency. I remember when Hu Jintao was here. Remember? We had the big event? He's speaking, and all of a sudden I hear this noise - had no earthly idea what was taking place, but it was the Falun Gong woman screaming at the top of her lungs (near the ceremony on the White House lawn). It was kind of an odd moment."

The Iraqi government condemned the act and demanded an on-air apology from Al-Baghdadiya television, the Iraqi-owned station that employs Muntadar al-Zeidi.

Several people descended on the man immediately after, wrestling him to the ground, and it took a minute or two for security agents to clear the crowd and start hauling him out. As they dragged him off, he was moaning and screaming as if in pain. Later, a large blood trail could be seen on the carpet where he was dragged out of the room.

He was taken into custody and reportedly was being held for questioning by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's guards and is being tested for alcohol and drugs.

Other Arab journalists and commentators, fed up with U.S. policy in the Middle East and Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam, echoed al-Zaidi's sentiments Monday. Abdul-Bari Atwan, editor of the influential London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, wrote on the newspaper's Web site that the incident was "a proper goodbye for a war criminal."

After a meeting with Hamid Karzai in the capital of Kabul, Bush said he told the president of Afghanistan: "You can count on the United States. Just like you've been able to count on this administration, you'll be able to count on the next administration as well."

After a brief refueling stop in England, Bush headed back to the United States.

The mixed reactions to Bush in both countries emphasized the uncertain situations Bush is leaving behind in the region.

In Iraq, nearly 150,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq. More than 4,209 members of the U.S. military have died and $576 billion has been spent since the war began five years and nine months ago.

In Afghanistan, there are about 31,000 U.S. troops and commanders have called for up to 20,000 more. The fight is especially difficult in southern Afghanistan, a stronghold of the Taliban where (war attacks have) risen sharply this year.

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Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report.