Shoes thrown at Bush on Iraq trip

President Bush ducks as the shoes are thrown

A surprise visit by US President George Bush to Iraq has been overshadowed by an incident in which two shoes were thrown at him during a news conference.

An Iraqi journalist was wrestled to the floor by security guards after he called Mr Bush "a dog" and threw his footwear, just missing the president.

The soles of shoes are considered the ultimate insult in Arab culture.

During the trip, Mr Bush and Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki signed the new security agreement between their countries.

The pact calls for US troops to leave Iraq in 2011 - eight years after the 2003 invasion that has in part defined the Bush presidency.

Speaking just over five weeks before he hands over power to Barack Obama, Mr Bush also said the war in Iraq was not over and more work remained to be done.

His previously unannounced visit came a day after US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told US troops the Iraq mission was in its "endgame".

Watch the video here *news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7782422.stm

youtube link : - *in.youtube.com/watch?v=QPGcP8KDXYw
:lol:

Too bad he didnt throw a bomb

A picture is more than thousand words.Can't say anything but that it was coming and deserved.
*english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images//2008/12/14/20081214202120924734_5.jpg

*s.buzzfeed.com/static/imagebuzz/web02/2008/12/14/13/db39b7add9df01d3792290902702f434_3.jpg

Finally, someone had the guts to do it.

I just saw it in the news on NDTV India. I must commend the assailant for his aim.

^^ Maybe he practiced a lot before the final throw.

"It's a sign of a free society." This is how US President George W Bush described the "humiliating" incident in which a Iraqi journalist threw two shoes at him in Baghdad.

Bush said he has seen a lot of weird things during his eight-year-long Presidency and that he would term the latest incident as "one of the weirdest".

The scribe threw two shoes at the President -- one after another -- during a news conference with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Sunday.

"And it was amusing. I mean, I've seen a lot of weird things during my presidency and this may rank up there as one of the weirdest. So this happens and it's a sign of a free society," Bush said.

"But I'm not insulted. I don't hold it against the government. I don't think the Iraqi press corps as a whole is terrible. And so, the guy wanted to get on TV and he did. I don't know what his beef is. But whatever it is I'm sure somebody will hear it," the US President told ABC channel in Iraq.......

ROFL

Source

Lol @amitash
Waste of a shoe.

lol...happy feet

Must have planned and practiced it before.

Thats why you were free to fcuk up free society and cause atrocious crimes.

^^do you think iraq was free before bush?? . i think you fail to realise the atrocities that saddam commited. the iraq war was bad for america. but it was good for iraqis. they are free. they ought to be grateful. and coming to atrocities...every countries does them. did you forget our big neighbour??

the guy who threw the shoe is an idiot. do you guys know how bad saddam was? how he executed 1000's of ppl with chemical weapons??. bush is doing a favor for iraq by freeing them from the clutches of a dictator.

^^it was an overkill.

Do you know how many innocent people suffered and women got raped by soldiers ?
Why does US has to poke its fingers everywhere ?

A

what did he prove

, apna khundas nikhaal hai kya

2nd pic reminds me of snatch.....
"....you put on a stupid face....and your life doesn't flash before your eyes, cause your too ****in' scared to think.....:

Turkish: Have you ever crossed the road, and looked the wrong way? A car's nearly on you? So what do you do? Something very silly. You freeze. Your life doesn't flash before you, 'cause you're too ****in' scared to think - you just freeze and pull a stupid face. But the pikey didn't. Why? Because he had plans of running the car over.

LOL man it's funny

Those shoes will be worth more than the golden boot now

Update:
*news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7783608.stm

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.

Officials at the Iraqi-owned TV station, al-Baghdadiya, called for the release of their journalist, saying he was exercising freedom of expression.

Iraqi officials have described the incident as shameful.

Read On........

T159 said:
^^it was an overkill.

Do you know how many innocent people suffered and women got raped by soldiers ?
Why does US has to poke its fingers everywhere ?

well those are isolated cases. ppl tend to magnify some things. and those who do that are brought to justice. its a highly disciplined and organized army.

regarding US "poke its fingers", let me ask you, if you see human rights abuses happening anywhere, will you just stand and watch?

wat happen to that guy

Hope he's released. By the way, the US pokes it's nose only where there's oil, else they would have ousted Robert Mugabe long back.

^^+1

intresting observation.

H

And now you got a game for it.

*kotaku.com/5110547/shoe-attack-on-president-already-turned-into-a-crappy-flash-game

nix said:
well those are isolated cases. ppl tend to magnify some things. and those who do that are brought to justice. its a highly disciplined and organized army.

regarding US "poke its fingers", let me ask you, if you see human rights abuses happening anywhere, will you just stand and watch?

Lol...then why do we have dummy UN

And beside that I have never seen US taking interest in our salvation

Why don't send in some troops to Pakistan and get the scum cleared up. Why Pakistan get an upperhand everytime it runs to mummy RIce :/

You know they don't do things for free, they got paid for what they did.

agree with T.

@nix -- mate lifes not a fairytale...nobody goes on to help others unless there is no profit..

India apparently prepared for air strikes... and soon enough mummy(Condy Rice) comes out to save her kids (pakis)... why ?? cos its through pak that all the supplies reach to the US forces in Afghanistan ..if India attacks pak and pak shuts down all the routes to Afghanistan, then US is fcked up !!

NucleusKore said:
Hope he's released. By the way, the US pokes it's nose only where there's oil, else they would have ousted Robert Mugabe long back.

US is not in iraq for oil. they have not taken any oil. there is no reliable news source that says US stole iraqi oil. they disarmed a dangerous man, they installed democracy, the country is becoming stable and terrorists are being controlled. the US will leave behind a safer, stabler iraq.

you cant expect US to do everything.. we gotta take some responsibility too. and its not easy to overthrow a govt, unless military force is used, which they dont want to. they are imposing sanctions. they are taking steps.. but again, we gotta contribute too.

T159 said:
Lol...then why do we have dummy UN
And beside that I have never seen US taking interest in our salvation Why don't send in some troops to Pakistan and get the scum cleared up. Why Pakistan get an upperhand everytime it runs to mummy RIce :/

You know they don't do things for free, they got paid for what they did.

we gotta save our own a**. we put ourself in this position with pakistan. from the time we got independence, we have always been submissive. we let them have nukes... our biggest blunder.

india and china were almost equal, then they got ahead. look now, US wont mess with them. so ultimately we have only ourself to blame

nix said:
US is not in iraq for oil. they have not taken any oil. there is no reliable news source that says US stole iraqi oil. they disarmed a dangerous man, they installed democracy, the country is becoming stable and terrorists are being controlled. the US will leave behind a safer, stabler iraq.

US attacked Iraq under the pretext of Iraq having Weapons of Mass Destruction but in reality. wanted to oust Hussien (as US has already had bad relations with the Middle East) and of course, oil.

nix said:
US is not in iraq for oil. they have not taken any oil. there is no reliable news source that says US stole iraqi oil. they disarmed a dangerous man, they installed democracy, the country is becoming stable and terrorists are being controlled. the US will leave behind a safer, stabler iraq.

It's all about OIL. They left Saddam in place after the Gulf War to have a balance with Iran, and could not break him with sanctions and everything else, so this was their next logical step.

latest news that shoes r Chinese and both r different size

A

so lion of bollywood cinema.

Shoe thrower 'beaten in custody' :
*news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7785338.stm

Dargham al-Zaidi told the BBC that his brother deliberately bought Iraqi-made shoes, which were dark brown with laces. They were bought from a shop on al-Khyam street, a well-known shopping street in central Baghdad.

NucleusKore said:
It's all about OIL. They left Saddam in place after the Gulf War to have a balance with Iran, and could not break him with sanctions and everything else, so this was their next logical step.

Watch Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

thewisecrab said:
US attacked Iraq under the pretext of Iraq having Weapons of Mass Destruction but in reality. wanted to oust Hussien (as US has already had bad relations with the Middle East) and of course, oil.

NucleusKore said:
It's all about OIL. They left Saddam in place after the Gulf War to have a balance with Iran, and could not break him with sanctions and everything else, so this was their next logical step.

it was an intelligence failure. why would they simply want to oust hussain? its for a reason-(human rights+WMD). its not about oil.. you guys dont buy arab propaganda. if they really controlled iraqi oil, oil prices would not go skyrocketing and US would not think of offshore drilling in their country. why dont you understand that?. oil is mainly controlled by arab countries. they have too much money and they dont know how to spend it thats why they make huge articifical islands and all kinds of towers.
US did not go to war for oil.. let that be clear.

^^more like a test bed

nix said:
US did not go to war for oil.. let that be clear.

They want oil at cheap prices from "friendly" regimes. Because of the oil for food program and all the sanctions, the full potential of Iraqi oil production could not be realised.

Anorion said:
Lol @amitash
Waste of a shoe.

The shoe wasn't wasted.
Now that shoe is worth 50cr

News:Rs 50 crore offer for shoes hurled at Bush

^hope Bush gets his share of the money

@ nucleuscore: i didnt get your post. can you be more specific.. i didnt quite understand what you meant.

is it not much better to give up oil for civil rights?. whats the use of all the oil in the world when you're ruled by a dictator?.

you make a choice, rights or oil..

^^a man consumed by Paperwork

- Gift of bureaucracy

Iraqi shoe-thrower 'apologises'
*news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7790318.stm

Shoes at the centre of the incident had been destroyed by US and Iraqi security agents when they were checked for explosives.

His employers, the Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV channel, called for their journalist to be freed, saying he had simply been exercising his freedom of expression - something the Americans promised Iraqis when they ousted former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

lol

*z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/p/W/2/bush-snowball.gif

man consumed by paperwork.. what was that for??

and coming to the shoe thrower- bush did not tell the iraqi police to arrest him. he actually asked for the shoe-thrower's release.

the US fulfilled the promise of giving iraqis the freedom of speech/expression: case in point--shoe-thrower.

Iraq shoe-thrower set for trial
*news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7795428.stm

So much for freedom of expression, aye aye liberation !

C

Well the shoe maker has become famous. He got order of making 3,00,000 shoes of the shoe model thrown at Bush. 261 or something. Read in TOI.

T159 said:
Iraq shoe-thrower set for trial
*news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7795428.stm

So much for freedom of expression, aye aye liberation !

you just dont get it do you? you seem to be a saddam hussein fan. instead of being happy that a dictator is gone, you seem to be unhappy about democracy in iraq. saddam killed a lot of ppl. instead of being happy that iraqi people now have say, you seem to more bothered about that shoe thrower. iraqi people are much better off now. iraqi people have the power to vote out the govt now. thats the beauty of democracy. you should live in a dictatorial state for a while. only then will you know the value of democracy. we in india take it for granted. you seem to worry so much about the shoe thrower in jail. why are you not bothered about the 100s killed during saddam times by nerve gas?

you seem to be among the ones who love to hate USA. its like microsoft bashing, its a fad. instead of appreciating them for all the good things they have done, you search for faults and magnify them.

K I think I got it now. Please US come and save us from terrorists. But we don't have anything to give in return. I hope you still come. UN, u gotta be kidding your own existence. Better shut yourself out from the world.

I don't care if it was Saddam or anyone. I don't care if democrazy will do any good there. But I care when some third party try to scoop out as much as it can from the given situation.

Instead of a shoe, he should have thrown a bomb at him. LOL

T159 said:
K I think I got it now. Please US come and save us from terrorists. But we don't have anything to give in return. I hope you still come. UN, u gotta be kidding your own existence. Better shut yourself out from the world.

I don't care if it was Saddam or anyone. I don't care if democrazy will do any good there. But I care when some third party try to scoop out as much as it can from the given situation.

lol why should US come to help us??. we should save ourself. we created the terrorists problem.

so you said it. you dont mind saddam. you dont mind/care gross human rights abuse. your fears that US is stealing oil from iraq are unfounded.
edit: human rights violations may not like sound much to you. but visualise yourself in their shoes . then you will probably understand..

nix said:
you seem to be among the ones who love to hate USA. its like microsoft bashing, its a fad. instead of appreciating them for all the good things they have done, you search for faults and magnify them.

the dawn of a new type of a fanboy...

E

It's terrible!

nix said:
lol why should US come to help us??. we should save ourself. we created the terrorists problem.

so you said it. you dont mind saddam. you dont mind/care gross human rights abuse. your fears that US is stealing oil from iraq are unfounded.
edit: human rights violations may not like sound much to you. but visualise yourself in their shoes . then you will probably understand..

was it us or US who funded terrorists...lol. I don't point at people but those friggin co ops government official pigs who did this.

First they breed them, then they use them and later they get themselves pawned. So the only choice left is to destroy them.

Read about agent orange used by US in Vietnam and Korean war. Lol...its awesome to test something in realtime and whats better than exploiting other's land in war.

Atleast India is a lot better than that, it never tried to intimidate others. But here too things take months and years to get sanctioned. Bureaucracy sucks. A man is consumed by Paperwork. He can't help a dying person without enrolling himself into the whole event paperwork. One can't get treatment if shot by a bullet without a police intervention and paperwork.

it's like Papers carry more weight than human...lol. Atleast am happy that I can get my HDDs RMAed without much paperwork or keeping its bill safe. All I do is submit it at their center and fill a damn form, its done. How nice

Life could be simple.