Shoes thrown at Bush on Iraq trip

[Nibb]

Shoes thrown at Bush on Iraq trip

A surprise visit by US President George Bush to Iraq has been overshadowed by an incident in which two shoes were thrown at him during a news conference.
An Iraqi journalist was wrestled to the floor by security guards after he called Mr Bush "a dog" and threw his footwear, just missing the president.
The soles of shoes are considered the ultimate insult in Arab culture.
During the trip, Mr Bush and Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki signed the new security agreement between their countries.
The pact calls for US troops to leave Iraq in 2011 - eight years after the 2003 invasion that has in part defined the Bush presidency.
Speaking just over five weeks before he hands over power to Barack Obama, Mr Bush also said the war in Iraq was not over and more work remained to be done.
His previously unannounced visit came a day after US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told US troops the Iraq mission was in its "endgame".
'Size 10'
In the middle of the news conference with Mr Maliki, a reporter stood up and shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," before hurtling his shoes at Mr Bush, narrowly missing him.

PREVIOUS BUSH VISITS TO IRAQ

Nov 2003: Serves Thanksgiving dinner to troops in Baghdad
June 2006: Meets new Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki
Sept 2007: Visits Anbar province - former stronghold of Saddam Hussein

"All I can report is a size 10," Mr Bush said according to the Associated Press news agency.
The shoe thrower was taken away by security guards and the news conference continued.
Correspondents called it a symbolic incident. Iraqis threw shoes and used them to beat Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad after his overthrow.
'American security'
Mr Bush's first stop upon arriving in Baghdad was the Iraqi presidential palace in the heavily-fortified Green Zone, where he held talks with President Jalal Talabani.
"The work hasn't been easy but it's been necessary for American security, Iraqi hope and world peace," Mr Bush said during his talks with Mr Talabani.
The Iraqi president called Mr Bush "a great friend for the Iraqi people, who helped us liberate our country".
The BBC's Humphrey Hawksley, in Baghdad, says the key issue at present is exactly how American troops will withdraw within the next three years and what sort of Iraq they will leave behind.


George Bush is received by President Jalal Talabani

The US media has just published details of a US government report saying that post invasion reconstruction of Iraq was crippled by bureaucratic turf wars and an ignorance of the basic elements of Iraqi society.
The report is circulating among US officials in draft form, says the New York Times.
It reveals details of a reconstruction effort that cost more than $100bn (£67bn) and only succeeded in restoring what was destroyed in the invasion and the widespread looting that followed it, the newspaper said.
Troop promises
Mr Bush's visit, unannounced in advance and conducted under tight security, follows the approval last month of a security pact between Washington and Baghdad that calls for US troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2011.
US troops are first to withdraw from Iraqi cities, including Baghdad, by June next year.
Defence Secretary Gates said on Saturday that "the process of the drawdown" had begun.

The end in sight for US troops in Iraq?

"We are, I believe, in terms of the American commitment, in the endgame here in Iraq," he told US troops at an airbase near Baghdad.
Mr Gates has been picked to stay on as defence secretary by President-elect Barack Obama.
President Bush leaves the White House in less than six weeks. He said in a recent interview with ABC News that the biggest regret of his presidency was the false intelligence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
Finding these was one of the key justifications for the invasion. None were ever found.
Mr Obama has promised to bring home US combat troops from Iraq in a little over a year from when he takes office in January.
More than 4,200 US troops and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians and security personnel have been killed since the invasion in 2003.
There are currently about 149,000 US soldiers in Iraq, down from last year's peak of 170,000 after extra troops were poured in to deal with a worsening security situation.
As Mr Bush arrived in Baghdad, Gen David Petraeus, the head of the US Central Command, which includes Iraq, said attacks in the country had dropped from 180 a day in June 2007 to 10 a day now.
In a sign of modest security gains in Iraq, Mr Bush was welcomed with a formal arrival ceremony - a flourish that was not part of his previous three visits.
He arrived in the country on Air Force One, which landed at Baghdad International Airport in the afternoon, after a secretive Saturday night departure from Washington on an 11-hour flight.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/7782422.stm

[GTI]

The video is absolute class.. "take that you Imperialist CUNT!!!"

[Zuse]

"take that you Imperialist CUNT!!!"

GTI need's to pick what side of the fence he lies on.

Is that an Audi you drive?

[Over Carl]

Shame he had a poor aim. Just a little lower....

[B B Leo]

he was quick to move there

[Nibb]

The video is absolute class.. "take that you Imperialist CUNT!!!"

The video is also in the original link.

[CzarJunkie]

Pissed myself when I saw it, apparently Bush's first words were "I take a size 10". Buhahahahaha.....

This was a refreshing change after seeing David Miliband nearly shit himself during his visit to Israel a few weeks ago. Bush just ducked and waited for the next one. It could have been a fucking grenade he was throwing but Bush didn't seem phased at all. Having the mental age of a romanian orphan certainly has it's advantages.

[B B Leo]

so u dint feel left out m8

[kracken]

Hes lucky it wasnt Richard Reid throwing them shoes

[burner1]

Bush was quick, looks like Neo's got some competition with all that matrix moves shit lol.

[4me2]

He was only presenting him with his weapons of mass destruction.

[4me2]

Next time Bush is doing a press conference in a hot country and a fly lands on his nose he'll think twice before shouting shoo.

[Undertaker]

Bush was quick, looks like Neo's got some competition with all that matrix moves shit lol.

looking forward to the youtube videos

[GTI]

If there is a fighting fund set up for this young man, I'd be happy to drop a few quid.

Shoe thrower 'beaten in custody'

Muntadar al-Zaidi was wrestled to the ground and dragged away

The brother of the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush has said that the reporter has been beaten in custody.
Muntadar al-Zaidi has suffered a broken hand, broken ribs and internal bleeding, as well as an eye injury, his older brother, Dargham, told the BBC.
Mr Zaidi threw his shoes at Mr Bush at a news conference, calling him "a dog".
The BBC tried to contact Iraq's top security official but he was not available for comment.
Meanwhile, offers to buy the shoes are being made around the Arab world, reports say.
Mass rallies in support of Mr Zaidi have also been held across Iraq, calling for his release.
Dargham al-Zaidi told the BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Baghdad he believed his brother had now been taken to a US military hospital in the Iraqi capital.
Hero figure
Mr Zaidi told our correspondent that despite offers from many lawyers his brother has not been given access to any since being arrested by forces under the command of Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser.

We hope the government and judiciary consider his release because he has a family and he is still young


Mouyyad al-Lami, Iraqi journalists' union



Bush shoe-ing worst Arab insult

The Iraqi authorities have said the 28-year-old will be prosecuted under Iraqi law, although it is not yet clear what the charges might be. Iraqi lawyers have speculated that he could face charges of insulting a foreign leader and the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al Maliki, who was standing next to President Bush during the incident. The offence carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail.
Our correspondent says that the previously little-known journalist from the private Cairo-based al-Baghdadia TV has become a hero to many, not just in Iraq but across the Arab world, for what many saw as a fitting send-off for a deeply unpopular US president.
As he flung the shoes, Mr Zaidi shouted: "This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog."
Dargham al-Zaidi told the BBC that his brother deliberately bought Iraqi-made shoes, which were dark brown with laces. They were bought from a shop on al-Khyam street, a well-known shopping street in central Baghdad.
However, not everyone in Iraq has been supportive of the journalist's action.
In Baghdad, the head of the Iraqi Union of Journalists described Mr Zaidi's action as "strange and unprofessional", but urged Mr Maliki to show compassion.
"Even if he has made a mistake, the government and the judiciary are broad-minded and we hope they consider his release because he has a family and he is still young," Mouyyad al-Lami told the Associated Press news agency.
"We hope this case ends before going to court."
Abducted by insurgents
The shoes themselves are said to have attracted bids from around the Arab world.
According to unconfirmed newspaper reports, the former coach of the Iraqi national football team, Adnan Hamad, has offered $100,000 (£65,000) for the shoes, while a Saudi citizen has apparently offered $10m (£6.5m).


Mr Zaidi said his actions were for Iraqi widows and orphans

The daughter of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Aicha, said her charity would honour the reporter with a medal of courage, saying his action was a "victory for human rights". The charity called on the media to support Mr Zaidi and put pressure on the Iraqi government to free him.
Mr Zaidi, who lives in Baghdad, has worked for al-Baghdadia for three years.
Muzhir al-Khafaji, programming director for the channel, described Mr Zaidi as a "proud Arab and an open-minded man".
He said that Mr Zaidi was a graduate of communications from Baghdad University.
"He has no ties with the former regime. His family was arrested under Saddam's regime," he said.
Mr Zaidi has previously been abducted by insurgents and held twice for questioning by US forces in Iraq.
In November 2007 he was kidnapped by a gang on his way to work in central Baghdad and released three days later without a ransom.
He said at the time that the kidnappers had beaten him until he lost consciousness, and used his necktie to blindfold him.
Mr Zaidi never learned the identity of his kidnappers, who questioned him about his work before letting him go.

Link

[fantom]

Bet he did't have the guts to do that to sadam - Looked like a little kid having a go at his daddy in a supermarket !

[4me2]

Bet he did't have the guts to do that to sadam - Looked like a little kid having a go at his daddy in a supermarket !

He actually looks very much like an Iraqi student that I had working with me in Germany about 5 years ago.

He even has the same name so its possible I suppose, his dad was a Doctor in Saddam's army with the rank of Major before his downfall and they did plan on returning.

He taught me a few Arabic insults to hurl at a gobby Lebanese fucker we also had working with us at the time.

[kracken]

Bush was quick, looks like Neo's got some competition with all that matrix moves shit lol.

[greens117]

More to come id imagin " rubs hands with glee".

[greens117]

Come to think of it when watching the video when bush says "i didn't feel threatend by it" ,i hope there will be a you tube video tounge and cheek version of all the journalist throwing a mass of shoes muhahahahahahah

[Raptor]

im surprised he wasnt shot