Bush ducks shoes but can't avoid Arab anger

Source: Agencies  |   2008-12-16  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

THOUSANDS of Iraqis took to the streets yesterday to demand the release of a reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W. Bush, as Arabs across many parts of the Middle East hailed the journalist as a hero and praised his insult as a proper send-off for the unpopular American leader.

The protests came as suicide bombers and gunmen targeted Iraqi police, US-allied Sunni guards and civilians in a series of attacks that killed at least 17 people and wounded more than a dozen, officials said.

Muntadhar al-Zeidi was being held by Iraqi security yesterday and interrogated about whether anybody paid him to throw his shoes at Bush during a press conference the previous day in Baghdad, an Iraqi official told reporters.

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

Showing the sole of your shoe to someone in the Arab world is a sign of extreme disrespect, and throwing your shoes is even worse.

Newspapers across the Arab world yesterday printed front-page photos of Bush ducking the flying shoes, and satellite TV stations repeatedly aired the incident, which provided fodder for jokes and was hailed by the president's many critics in the region.

Many users of the popular Internet networking site Facebook posted the video of the incident to their profile pages, showing al-Zeidi leap from his chair as Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki were about to shake hands on Sunday and hurl his shoes at the president, who was about 26 meters away. Bush ducked the airborne footwear and was not injured in the incident.

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

Al-Zeidi was immediately wrestled to the ground by Iraqi security guards.

Al-Zeidi's tirade was echoed by Arabs across the Middle East who are fed up with US policy in the region.