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Iraqi Shoe Tosser Enraged by Bush's Smile, Joking

2008_12_lshoe.jpg In a Baghdad courtroom, Iraqi reporter Muntadar al-Zaidi testified about what led him to toss his shoes at former President Bush during a press conference late last year. To sum it up, he was irritated by Bush's jokey manner: Zaidi said, "While he was talking I was looking at all his achievements in my mind. More than a million killed, the destruction and humiliation of mosques, violations against Iraqi women, attacking Iraqis every day and every hour. A whole people are saddened because of his policy, and he was talking with a smile on his face …and he was joking with the prime minister and saying he was going to have dinner with him after the press conference... I was blind to anything else. I felt the blood of the innocent people bleeding from beneath his feet and he was smiling in that way... So I reacted to this feeling by throwing my shoes. I couldn't stop the reaction inside me…. It was spontaneous." Zaidi faces up to two years in prison.

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By Jen Chung in on February 19, 2009 9:39 AM

Comments [rss]

  • The Man Bat

    The shoe thrower is a HERO!! little war criminal bush belongs in the Hague. The sooner the better.

  • EastRiver

    I felt the blood of the innocent people bleeding from beneath his feet



    Maybe this guy could have shown some true bravery and organized a group to overthrow Saddam Hussein who did plenty to kill "innocent people". Or to go fight the insurgents who are killing "innocent people". No, this guy throws a shoe in a room full of reporters.

  • barryap

    Yeah, what a big man, waiting til his country has democracy and no secret executions before standing up for himself.

  • NannyState

    Maybe Bush should have shown some true bravery and enlisted to fight in Vietnam so Barbara and Poppy could have had a folded flag and we could havd had our country back.

  • EastRiver

    So you're agreeing with me, NannyState. Bush was a coward and so is the shoe thrower. And I guess so was Bill Clinton while we're on the subject.

  • NannyState

    Clinton was a hippie:)

  • I get the outrage at Bush. I feel it, too. I don't wish death upon him, tho.

  • Spirit of 76

    I wasn't aware that projectile footwear could be lethal.

  • wowthatsucks

    I didn't realize GWB had violated Iraqi women, someone should lock that animal up.

  • mrguy

    I have to sympathize with this guy. That's a pretty spot-on description of how i felt every time i saw that stupid smirk on Bush's face too.

  • henricus

    Bullshit, didn't his brother say he had been practicing his shoe throwing for several days?

  • Politburo

    If you look at some of the other claims by this guy's brothers, it puts all of their statements into doubt. They're bullshitters.

  • chuzzlewit

    yeah, and just a little more practice and we could've truly had a moment of absolute crystal perfection. so sad...

  • Felix Hoenikker

    Actually I found the ninja double-duck more humorous.

    The .gifs they made of that video were awesome.

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