Iraqis Want Release of Anti-Bush Shoe-Throwing Journalist

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Thousands of Iraqis are taking to the streets of Baghdad and neighbouring cities to protest the detention of the Iraqi journalist who made history by throwing not one but two size 10 shoes at the outgoing US president, George Bush, during Bush’s last visit to Iraq yesterday. The shoe attacker is Muntadhar al-Zeidi, a 28-year-old Al-Baghdadia journalist who was kidnapped once, and is described by his colleagues as “arrogant and always showing off.” The man is now hailed a “hero” and is the subject of street conversations in Iraq. Protesters cheering for al-Zeidi’s release are shouting disrespectful remarks at President Bush  and some are even throwing shoes at American patrols. Investigation is under way to determine if al-Zeidi was paid for his bold shoe-throwing act.

But why shoe throwing? Why not tomato smashing or spitting, for example? Apparently flinging shoes at one’s opponent is the ultimate way to show disrespect in Arab culture. However, George Bush was not the first and only personality targeted with shoe ‘missiles’ in Iraq. In fact, back in 2003 when the US just began war in Iraq and the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled by angry crowds, many Iraqis were seen throwing shoes in the face of the overthrown statue. A sign of changing times has seen the outgoing president of the US being given the same treatment.

But Iraq is not the only place where an American politician can have shoes thrown at them. Back in 2005, a US protester has thrown a shoe at former Pentagon adviser Richard Perl while the later was debating with Howard Dean. The shoe throwing has prompted US officials to raise terror alert from yellow (elevated) to red (severe). President Bush was heard making a joking comment, “US intelligence has revealed that terrorists have shoes...This is a threat we were previously unaware of, but now that it has come to light, we must do everything we can to avoid the possibility of terrorist shoe attacks.” Oh, political irony!

If watching the YouTube clip of the shoe throwing (which had nearly 600,000 views since it was posted yesterday) is not enough to satisfy your curiosity, there is a podcast of the incident available for download here.

See previous NowPublic coverage here