Iraqi Man Threw Shoes at Bush

During a news conference at his surprise visit to Iraq, President Bush showed great reflexes by dodging a shoe thrown by an angry Iraqi journalist:

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.

"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.

Link - Thanks Mark Storen!


I have to ask:

What is "neat" about this?

Neatorama was once a site where politics was left at the door. Once upon a time, a person could visit Neatorama and find all sorts of interesting things and politics was expressly verboten.

Guess times have changed, eh?

Having said that, let me ask:

I wonder if that Iraqi reporter would have attempted such when Saddam was in power?

If he had, then I wonder if he would have had his tongue cut out?

Would he have been placed in the wood chipper? Feet first? Or head first?

Would he have been bound and thrown off of a three story building?

Or would he have just disappeared in the night never to be seen or heard from again?

That darned freedom. It makes people do such strange things.

No, that reporter never would have done such when Saddam was in power. He wouldn't have had the courage.

Of course this reporter may not be smart enough to realize that without the steely eyed resolve of President Bush and the heroic efforts of the US military, he, along with 50 million or so of his countrymen, would suffer severe repercussions for such behavior.

Yes, tis neat to watch someone enjoy their their freedom of speech while lashing out against the very man who was key in helping secure it.
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It has been a great eight years, Adam.

The next four are not going to be very great at all. You elected a corrupt and incompetent man because of his skin colour, and the consequences won't be pretty.
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Great eight years? wow tens of thousands Of iraqi citizen dead and all this dim wit can say is a great 8 years.... sir your patriotism is eclipise by your ignorance. Nr Bush deserves the bottom of many Americans shoes as well.
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Indeed, some nice reflexes for a man who nearly choked on a pretzel.

@Adam:
Nicely put.

@Chihuahua:
Yes, hurray for Democracy! Democracy for which hundreds of U.S. soldiers and thousands of Iraqi citizens had to die. Democracy for which a whole country lies in ruins.

Don't get me wrong, I love democracy. However, it's not worth much if your dead.
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What's neat about this?! Seriously?!

This has neat written all over it. I don't care who the president is, some guy throwing a shoe at the president is wonderfully absurd. One of the great hallmarks of 'sillyness' is an 'upperclass' or stodgy person being assulted in a silly way (like a pie in the face of a Duchess, a prince falling in the mud, and, well, footware projectiles at presidents!)
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Afterwards the reporter said, "the best part was that after I threw shoes at Bush I wasn't beaten, then forced to watch my children being raped and murdered as punishment, before being executed and left in the street as a warning to others."
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The whole point of the footwear being symbolic is because it's considered in such cultures to be the dirtiest part of the body. In Egypt for example, it's considered extremely bad manners even if you're sitting cross-legged to point the soles of your feet at someone. Similarly in Iraq, if you're pointing to a crate on the ground beside you, never just lift your foot and poke it. When the statue of Sadam fell, the reason people were beating it with their shoes wasn't because they were the only thing handy, but because it was a gross insult, same case here.
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Too bad I couldn't have handed him the size 12 steel—toe workboots I often wear. Regular old dress brogans just don't have the heft for effective shoe assault.
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After something like this, I anticipate postings about the recent $1M arson damage to Sarah Palin's church in Wasilla. After all, that's pretty neat too, right?
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To all the Bush lovers: You certainly have short memories. Bush invaded Iraq, not to liberate the people, but to steal their oil. When all his blatant lies about WMD he and the rest of the republican criminals struggled to find a way to spin this illegal war into something positive. That turned out to be this silly liberation stuff. Honestly, this is all a repeat of Iran and the Shah. I'm kind of upset that both those shoes missed. He deserved worse. But maybe he'll get put on trial someday for war crimes. Now folks...go punch a Bush-loving supporter in the face to show them thanks for ruining our country.
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You can bet your azz when stuff like this happens to Obama, people will be "disappeared." Leftist don't put up with crap like this.
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HA! Take that you bloody Bush!! Now the same type of farewell treatment should be extended to the American soldier "DOGS" in Iraq.THROW SHOES AT THEIR BLOODY FACE!!!!!!
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It's more than a little amusing that the leftists here are getting their panties in a twist over the "civilians" who died as a result of the war while completely ignoring the "civilians" who were murdered daily by Saddam and his regime. I would imagine these same individuals are wetting themselves over Sudan.

What's more amusing is that anyone who disagrees with the template that the Iraq war was wrong is considered ignorant. The person calling others ignorant is the person who's post is full of typos and misspellings. Funny how that works, eh?

At least one leftist here believes that Democracy is not worth having if you have to die for it. Fortunately, that line of logic holds no water. If it did we would all be speaking the Queen's English or typing our posts in German or Japanese.

TB, how does that whole "steal their oil" idea work and when will it be implemented? I've got two big SUV's in my garage and I would love to know when gas will be 50 cents per gallon again. Let me know please.

Also, I'd really like to know what the "lies" were and who told them because I've seen a whole lot of evidence to support the original reasons for the invasion.

Finally TB, I looked over this site rather closely and have been unsuccessful at determining your ownership here. Until you can authenticate your position of authority, Evil Pundit and I will stay put. While I appreciate your invitation, someone's got to stick around here to keep you honest.
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Both the left and the right need to cool it.
I would agree there's more political freedoms now and that deserves recognition. But as for the issue of whether democracy is worth having if you have to die for it. That's a choice that only the Iraqi people had the right to make. It's their country and their lives. Even assuming that the war was fought mainly for the sake of spreading democracy (dubious), we did force the decision on them for better or worse and clearly some of them are sore at the way things turned out.

Let's not ruin this perfectly neat demonstration of Bush's keen spidey senses. I kind of feel bad for the guy, but at least he handled the follow-up questions well.
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I wonder if our ex-Prime Minister and Bush's best buddy, Johnny Howard, would have been quick enough to dodge the shoes. Or Tony Blair.

Maybe we should get the heads of all countries on some sort of a stand and have shoe-dodging contests. It could be included in the Olympics. The Head-Of-State Shoe Dodge.

Now thats entertainment.
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Chihuahua, what freedom?

Try actually being an Iraqi or how about the 1,284,105 Iraqi civilians slaughtered because of your beautiful idea of democracy and spreading it to all of the world.

Oh, don't forget the oppression the Iraqis are feeling right now because the U.S. presence and the extremely corrupt government that murders and oppresses anyone who stands against it.

Stop listening to your bullcrap propaganda that you hear on your lovely news and how you guys have achieved great progress and the Iraqi people are happy because of U.S. policies and occupation.

Go look at how many ING and IPs last month have died because the U.S. now sending them out instead of themselves. Don't forget the Sahwas either or "awakeners" that have died last month.

Just because U.S. soldier deaths have decreased doesn't mean you've made progress. Go and see what is really happening rather than regurgitate what you heard on the news.
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Aye Chihuahua, and some others:

Your posts were like some sun in the darkness of the leftists normal lies. I imagine they and their ilk will all be deliriously happy once the terrorist loving anti America Communist takes over. Oh I forgot, leftists despise the truth.

God help us all!
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Might I suggest you folks get a hold of the Jan '09 edition of Harper's Monthly. Check out their Harper's Index on pages 11-13. Some notables are:

Factor by which an Iraqi in 2006 was more likely to die than in the last year of the Saddam regime: 3.6
Factor by which the cause of death was more likely to be violence: 120
Chance that an Iraqi has fled his or her home since the beginning of the war: 1 in 6
Percentage of Baghdad residents in 2007 who had a family member or friend wounded or killed since 2003: 3/4
Percentage change since 2000 in US emigration to Canada: +79
Average percentage of Americans who approved of the job Bush was doing during his second term: 37
Percentage of Russians today who approve of the direction their country too under Stalin: 37
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Had this been just 8 years ago, the "journalist" would be tortured and headless for such insubordination under the the Hussein regime, and that gallery would be hand=picked "reporters". He's lucky to have his job, much less his life.
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Bush is a fool, along with all Americans. The reporter should have done everyone a favour and threw a lead shoe at Bush to finish his presidency! What a pathetic attempt of friendship displaying Iraqi and American flags together, the American flags should be burned and urinated on! Amazing how one idiotic man can have a whole country pushing Americanistic values on other cultures like a bully in a schoolyard with all his friends. Americans are weak and will pay for their injustices by a stronger opposition. Once and for all, Russia is aligning with Venezuela and Cuba, USA will soon get more than it deserves by a larger world power. The piece of SH%$ Americans can make up more B.S. about a "war on terror" when in fact THEY are the true terrorists of the entire planet! Piss on USA!
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he is the biggest fuckin retard i have ever seen he probly sucked dick with his dad and a space worp apeared and sucked them both up and took them through a worm hole and spit them out far from home in another time and place or it seems like maby another UNIVERSE!!!
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What a great moment... A cartoon ending to the U.S.'s greatest presidential monster since Nixon. Someone should also throw a stack of dwindled 401K's & bad mortgages at him.

As to the posters above who give that worn-out argument re: "liberating" the peole of Iraq from Saddam. Ask yourself-- Why is it that in regards to non oil-rich areas of the world (read: Darfur), Bush and his govt. have done absolutely nothing to end the oppression, suffering and genocide?

So many American soldiers' lives lost in the name of greed. Let's all throw our shoes.
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Mr. Taco,

You reveal much about yourself simply by quoting numbers from the repeatedly debunked Lancet study.

Good try on the rest of your drivel too, but those of us who are paying attention are not fooled.

Alex,

Link the Harper's article please. I'd like to read it.
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Chihuahua you should know that there is more than one surveys of casualties

the Lancet survey claiming -- 654,965 (392,979-942,636)--

ORB survey claiming 900,000-1.2 million dead

IBC saying 93,000

and WHO and Iraqi Ministry of Health saying 100,000-220,000

Fooled by what?

Saying that Iraqis don't really want U.S. occupation there. Crimes of the ING and IP. Do you not believe them? Go look at videos of themselves, they proudly admit it and show it off, beating old men and children because they are Sunni rather than Shia,destroying mosques of the Sunnis. These aren't "death squads" these are IPs and the ING. Go there you see 10 ft walls separating neighborhoods segregating all neighborhoods from each other.

But don't believe me. For internet arguments go nowhere for the ignorant will stay ignorant even in the face of truth. You and the general public will believe you are doing good fighting the Mujahideen all over the world claiming you will rid the world of all "extremist" Muslims and have only pro-west murtad, and munafiqeen Muslims while your country slowly bleeds to death economically as the USSR did, as you keep making the mistakes they did.
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Wow, we're getting all kinds of kooky comments on this one.

I'm not big on Bush, but that is an excellent dodge and a worthwhile response. I'm surprised he managed to come up with that joke. Good for him.

The one other memorable thing that Bush did was to reassure the entire country after the World Trade Center attacks in 2001. I mean before the whole Iraq business. He was, for at least one point in his career, a leader.
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That was funny as hell. Size 10, nice comeback.

Of course if anyone is interested in the facts, the guy chucking shoes was an Egyptian "reporter". (Like they have a free press)

BTW, Iraqi deaths have been tracking downwards significantly post surge.

A majority of Iraqis citizens generally approve of what we did for their country, and have a high expectation things will get better. They want us out, but not yet.

On to Afghanistan. At least with a Dem at the helm, we will hopefully start to hear about the good things we are doing...
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That was really funny. I am sure al ot of Iraqis would want to do the same. The Iraqis might have been living under a tyrant in the Saddam era but they had jobs, stayed in their homes, had power, running water and food. Right now democracy means nothing. Maybe it is not the United States' place to be meddling with the affairs of other countries, at least not by starting a war. Wars just harm everyone involved. Whatever Bush's true intentions were, he has not really improved the quality of life of the Iraqi people.
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@Evil Pundit

It was Mussolini who made the trains run on time.
Also, the Jews didn't ride for free, most paid with their lives.

And you just proved Godwin's law which makes you an idiot.
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Oh my this has sparked a lot of comments.

I for one find this neat because I love Austin Powers and it looks like I am not the only one. Here is a great parody of what I actually seen in my head when I seen bush get a shoe thrown at him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db3HsIjqavY

"Who throws a shoe, honestly?" Classic!
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i am feeling very sorry for that journalist. dog bush really deserved that. that poor journalist was in jail for 6 months and badly torchored. millions of his people died,along with thousands of american,america got bankrupt,houses ruined ( well i wont give all the list)
but would like to say that any person who would have feelings and care for the human beings would be ready to do such a thing.that journalist knew the circumstances but were man enough to stand for the goodness.

A REMINDER,
bush said that he is bringing war on iraq because of WMD, not because he wanted to bring freedom to the people of iraq.now that things went wrong, he just changed his words. poor those who are badly affected by the media controlled by bush administration and some israeli's chairholders.
feeling pity for those who cant distinguish between right and wrong.
do you guys think that killing 1 million people worth such a thing?
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I don't like bush, but i thought this was a bonehead move by the reporter, and an ignorant way to treat the leader of a country. There are better ways to protest then shoe throwing, you moron.
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Yes Rico... Bush went to steal their oil. We have hundreds of tankers shipping the free oil this way now. That's why oil was so cheap, right? Let me know when Elvis makes a new record.
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I too rolled on the moonbat comment that democracy was not worth it if we had to die for it.

Ah, such leftist brilliance! Let us live in servitude instead, right?

So much for "give me liberty or give me death".
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Wow lots of people reading way to much into this clip. It's neat because we see a famous person ducking a shoe which isn't something we see every day. Plus he jokes about it so it isn't very serious incident either. I don't see where the politics are in this clip. Neatorama might be biased to the left but it doesn't show in this clip.
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Discussion this and that. I think that guy would not have suffered any bad consequences (not by Saddam Hussein) if the regime was still in power.
You Americans forget that "the good guy" Mr. Bush has been the ENEMY in that conflict AGAINST the "evil" Iraq. Why would Hussein punish a shoe- attack against the enemy?
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This is actually a very enlightening illustration of why terrorists have to stap bombs to themselves and detonate them in crowds: it's because they can't hit anything they aim at.

Go GW!
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@56 Pete. Short memory, remember the oil was going to pay for the war? Bush failed to even achieve that. Doesn't Costello have one out now?

@57 Pete. They didn't go in there for 'democracy' or 'nation-building'. Don't remember the Anthrax/Powell thing? Or the 45minutes to drop a rocket on London?

100,000 plus dead people...damn those ragheads are ungrateful.
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I don't like Bush, but the reporter should be beheaded just like it used to be when Saddam was there. Iraq is not worth the dead cockroach I killed this morning. They are just ingrates and we should never have spent the time or the money. I hope US learns that not everyone deserves to live free.
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Everyone HATES USA,

I assume from your spelling you are English. If so
the next time you come begging for help to save your country from the next Kaiser or Nazi I think the U.S. should tell you to go straight to Hell. Typical anti America BS. Spout all sorts of lies until their
butt is in a sling then who do they come to for help?
How much American blood was shed in two world wars
for your despicable sorry ass?
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great comments and information, i think its funny how people say that there was so many soldiers died because they all knew where they were going or what it meant to be in the military and i know this because ive lost a brother in this war. He belived in this war and i think that freedom is worth it.
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jessyz, you couldn't be more off. The Iraqis saw their economy dwindle even before the sanctions were placed on them in 1991. True, the median income is starkly below what it was in the late 1970s (when you-know-who seized power) but their non-oil economy is growing at a great pace, with 7% growth per tear expected until 2010. The amount of revenue for the state has also exploded, which is arguably for the betterment of the lives of the Iraqis. You can read about it all here: http://www.gulfinthemedia.com/files/article_en/321901.pdf

I can understand the sympathy you might have for the welfare of the Iraqi people, but something tells me living under a tyranny would not make you all that comfortable yourself. Do not summarily dismiss it as being acceptable for others.
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Hey, Chihuahua

How would you feel if a bomb was dropped on your wedding, killing and injuring all your loved ones? Would you feel more "free"?

And when you tried to leave to go to an adjoining state, guards at the road block shot and maimed you?

How would you like Mount Rushmore to be leveled to make an airfield for the bombers?

And then the invading army set up residence in the White House?

Then the USA was bombed for years with cancer-causing depleted uranium?

Would you be enjoying "freedom", as defined by the culture of the invading county?
Or would you feel like your country got raped?
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