Iraqi Journalist Hurls Shoes at Bush

Iraqi Journalist Hurls Shoes at Bush. Prime Minister al-Maliki tries for an interception.

MrKen Is old enough to remember the famous shoe-banging incident that took place during the 902nd Plenary Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on 12 October 1960, when the infuriated Premier of the Soviet Union pounded his shoe on the delegate desk. But at least Nikita Khrushchev didn't throw his shoes at the speaker.

During a news conference in Baghdad on Sunday, a reporter took off his shoes and hurled them at the president, who showed off his cat-like reflexes. Bush was not hit.

The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at Mr. Bush’s head denounced him on live television as a “dog” who had delivered death and sorrow here from nearly six years of war.

Hitting someone with a shoe is considered the supreme insult in Iraq. It means that the target is even lower than the shoe, which is always on the ground and dirty. Crowds hurled their shoes at the giant statue of Mr. Hussein that stood in Baghdad’s Firdos Square before helping American marines pull it down on April 9, 2003, the day the capital fell. More recently in the same square, a far bigger crowd composed of Iraqis who had opposed the security agreement flung their shoes at an effigy of Mr. Bush before burning it.

For the full New York Times story, please follow this link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/world/middleeast/15prexy.html?th&emc=th

To read more about the Khrushchev shoe banging incident-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe-banging_incident