Sole Man

I had heard about Bush's shoe dodging incident yesterday but just saw the video. It's even crazier than I imagined but highlights the depths of anger than many Iraqis feel towards Bush.

In all fairness, I've gotta admit...Bush is pretty quick.

From the BBC...

In the middle of the news conference with Mr Maliki, Iraqi television journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi stood up and shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," before hurling a shoe at Mr Bush which narrowly missed him.

Showing the soles of shoes to someone is a sign of contempt in Arab culture.

The shoe thrower then loaded again and fired off another round of sole...

With his second shoe, which the president also managed to dodge, Mr Zaidi said: "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq." Mr Zaidi, a correspondent for Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV, was then wrestled to the ground by security personnel and hauled away

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The US press is all over the shoe throwing but I haven't heard much about what happened afterwards, except from the BBC...

Thousands of Iraqis have demanded the release of a local TV reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush at a Baghdad news conference. Crowds gathered in Baghdad's Sadr City district, calling for "hero" Muntadar al-Zaidi to be freed from custody. There were similar scenes in Najaf.

The BBC has a video of the rally in Baghdad but I can't embed it in the blog. If you want to see it, click here.

This song goes out to Muntadar al-Zaidi, a true sole man...