Bush Doesn't Let the Shoe Hit Him on the Way Out
The man knows how to duck and cover, that's for sure.
Bloomberg reports: "In Arab culture, throwing shoes is a grave show of disrespect. 'This is the farewell kiss, you dog,' the man shouted in Arabic. After U.S. troops pulled down a statue of former dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iraqi bystanders tossed shoes at it, according to news reports at the time. Bush said today’s incident was an example of free speech in a democracy. The man threw the shoes from about 25 feet away as Bush, standing with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, made formal remarks before the signing of the Iraqi-U.S. agreement. Maliki tried to block the second thrown shoe as it flew toward Bush, according to video of the incident shown on television. The shoe-thrower, who was in a group of journalists, was wrestled to the ground and taken away. 'This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq,' shouted the man, later identified by the Associated Press as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi- owned station based in Cairo, Egypt."
Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...
Posted Dec. 14,2008 at 5:47 PM EST by Andy Towle in George W. Bush, Iraq, News | Permalink
Under Saddam, there were no press conferences, just announcements. Journalists were toadies, told what to write.
If this man had thrown a shoe at Saddam, he would be dead within 10 minutes, and probably most of his family as well, plus the rest of his organization would be locked up.
No fan of Bush, but if you can't appreciate these differences, then you are clueless.
Posted by: Assam | Dec 15, 2008 11:10:29 AM
Considering the fact that Bush is a War Criminal,
on the level of Stalin or Pol Pot; just one shoe is
getting off pretty easy. Bush should be on trial
at The Hague.
Of course, he also bankrupted the US, make out
currency worthless, and sold our future to China.
Instead of ducking shoes, Bush should be burning in Hell.
Posted by: mike nyc | Dec 15, 2008 11:16:46 AM
the evil that saddam did and bush's world evil does not hold up to comparison. it is evil vs. enormity (look it up, folks). bush is lucky that shoes were the only thing lobbed at him. but say what you will about the chimp, he has good reflexes.
Posted by: nic | Dec 15, 2008 12:07:32 PM
Assam
What part of 2-3 times more civilian deaths under US occupation in a few years as compared to the numbers saddam killed over decades do you not understand???
I am sure those thousands upon thousands upon thousands times thousands more civilians killed under our occupation than saddam are glad that they now have press conferences that their corpses will never hear nor see as vs still being alive
Not 1 single iraqi attacked america. The majority of 9/11 terrorists were saudis trained in afganistan. saddam hated Osama and al queda had no presence in Iraq pre our invasion. We have killed more civilians than saddam ever did.
Posted by: Jimmyboyo | Dec 15, 2008 12:38:55 PM
Stalin killed 20-30 million people. Pol Pot killed upwards of 3 million people. Bush killed nowhere near that number in Iraq. Disagree all you want but you have no evidence. None. Just shouting.
Jimmyboyo, you are an ignorant fool. You have NO evidence for your silly agitprop; I hope your fictions comfort you. You are a friend to the dictators and tyrants of world, such as Chavez and Castro. At least I have my freedom.
Posted by: Assam | Dec 15, 2008 12:47:37 PM
ASSAM,
bush's death toll cannot only be calculated in numbers of deaths alone; we may never be able to reckon that. however, his actions did destroy a sovereign country which did nothing to harm us, the USA. beside the untold number of innocents killed in iraq, what about the displaced millions, what about the brain drain, what about the upheaval of secularism that brought back oppression of women, what about the fact that our children and our children's children will be paying out the ass for decades to repair what bushco wrought? what about 4000+ american lives and 15,000+ soldiers who will never be the same? much more than that is the affront to black, brown, and poor white families whose sons and daughters disproportionally make up our military. and all of this havoc brought on by chicken-shit chicken-hawks who dodge and evaded the draft as easily as the chimp dodged those shoes.
if you define freedom as freedom from conscience, the you are indeed free, asshole.
Posted by: nic | Dec 15, 2008 3:12:05 PM
excuse the typos, but even sanguine people like me tend to get agitated by people who try to minimize the harm that the shrub and his admin have done to our standing in the world, and the harm that they have done to the world in general.
gawd, how i disdain prez cheney and v.p. bush.
Posted by: nic | Dec 15, 2008 3:33:32 PM
I would of thrown a whole Payless shoe store at him. Right on for this reporter for having the balls to try to peg one of the worst presidents of the 21st Century.
Posted by: DairyQueen | Dec 15, 2008 4:39:54 PM
Hah!
I poke a stick into the hive and out comes the defenders of dictatorship. And if any of you think Iraq was secular under Saddam, then I have some swamp land to sell you and some Kurdish friends I'd like you to meet.
Posted by: Dixie Flatline | Dec 15, 2008 11:37:26 PM
@ DIXIE FLATLINE. i doubt that you could ever be more trite. but your name says it all, dunnit? ha!
Posted by: nic | Dec 16, 2008 12:02:24 AM
My roommie thinks this is the funniest thing ever.
I think it's horrible.
The Secret Service allowed TWO shoes to be thrown at close range at The POTUS.
Now, put the name Obama in for Bush. Not so fucking funny anymore is it?
All of you who have shit to say now about how you wish it would have hit him would be screaming bloody murder if it was Obama.
If this is the best that Bush' security detail can do , then I am truly frightened for Obama.
Posted by: Derek Washington | Dec 16, 2008 11:58:43 AM
Btw, Assam, if ?Jimmyboyo is a friend to dictators, etc., then maybe you should count Donald Rumsfield and Ronald Reagan in that group. They had no issues with Hussein gassing Kurds. Also add Margaret Thatcher and every otherruler at the time. As long as he was keeping the Iranians in line his brutality was just fine with us. He only fucked up in our rulers eyes when he went after Kuwait, which by the way, was a part of Iraq until the British decided to steal it.
And Bush has caused the death of hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who had no part in the heinous attack on 9/11. That is fact.
If we want to play your game, let's play. I doubt that Hitler personally killed anyone. Or Stalin. Cowards rarely do the actual hard work. They might kill the first few, but, their lust for blood, oil, power, whatever, means that they use the means available to them to do the majority of their killing.
Bush has had a personal role in the deaths of every single American who has died in Iraq since the start of this horrible war. That is not up for discussion just as Hitlers role in the deaths of every single Jew, Gypsy, and Gay is indisputable.
These are facts. Not emotions.
Posted by: Derek Washington | Dec 16, 2008 12:07:56 PM