Timothy Williams & Sharon Otterman / New York Times & Chelsea J. Carter / Associated Press – 2008-12-17 01:07:27
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/12/16/MNLP14ODPP.DTL
Shoes Toss at Bush Has Widespread Impacts
Timothy Williams & Sharon Otterman / New York Times
BAGHDAD (December 16, 2008) — A day after a little-known Iraqi television journalist threw his shoes at President Bush at a news conference in Baghdad on Sunday, his act of defiance toward the American commander in chief continued to resonate throughout Iraq and beyond.
In Sadr City, the sprawling Baghdad suburb that has seen some of the most intensive fighting between insurgents and American soldiers, thousands of marchers called for his release. In Syria, he was being hailed as a hero. In Libya, he was given an award for courage.
Across much of the Arab world, the shoe-throwing incident generated front-page headlines and continuing television news coverage. A thinly veiled glee could be discerned in much of the reporting, especially in places where anti-American sentiment runs deepest.
Muntadar al-Zaidi, 29, the correspondent for an independent Iraqi television station who threw his black dress shoes at Bush, remained in Iraqi custody on Monday.
While he has not been formally charged, Iraqi officials said he faces up to seven years in prison for committing an act of aggression against a visiting head of state.
Hitting someone with a shoe is a deep insult in the Arab world, signifying that the person being struck is as low as the dirt underneath the sole of a shoe. Compounding the insult were al-Zaidi’s words as he hurled his footwear at President Bush: “This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!” While calling someone a dog is universally harsh, among Arabs, who traditionally consider dogs unclean, it’s an even stronger slur.
According to his family, al-Zaidi was kidnapped in November 2007 by militants and, separately, detained briefly by the US military. Over time, they said, he came to hate both the US military occupation and Iran’s interference in Iraq.
The incident has been a source of embarrassment for the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who, in a statement on Monday, called the shoe throwing a “a shameful savage act” and demanded a public apology from Al-Baghdadia, the independent satellite channel that employs al-Zaidi.
“The act damaged the reputation of the Iraqi journalists and journalism in general,” the statement said.
As of Monday night, no apology from the station was forthcoming. Instead, the network posted an image of al-Zaidi in the corner of the screen for much of the day. Telephone callers were invited to phone in their opinions, and the vast majority said they approved of his actions.
Opponents of the continued American presence in Iraq turned al-Zaidi’s detention Monday into a rallying cry. Support for the detained journalist crossed religious, ethnic and class lines in Iraq — vaulting him to near folk-hero status.
“I swear by God that all Iraqis with their different nationalities are glad about this act,” said Yaareb Yousif Matti, a 45-year-old teacher from Mosul, a city contested by Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen.
In Samarra, one of the centers of the Sunni insurgency against American forces, al-Zaidi received nearly unanimous approval from people interviewed Monday.
“Although that action was not expressed in a civilized manner, it showed the Iraqi’s feelings, which oppose American occupation,” said Dr. Qutaiba Rajaa, a 58-year old physician.
In Sadr City, thousands of marchers on Monday called for an immediate American withdrawal from Iraq. The demonstrators burned American flags and waved shoes attached to long poles in a show of support for al-Zaidi.
In Najaf, several hundred people gathered on a central square to protest Bush’s Sunday visit to Iraq, and demonstrators threw their shoes at a passing American military convoy.
But support for al-Zaidi was not universal. His action ran counter to deeply held Iraqi traditions of hospitality toward guests, even if they are enemies. And those who have cooperated or welcomed the American presence in Iraq were far more apt to side with the government in their condemnation.
Ahmad Abu Risha, the head of the Awakening Council in Anbar province, a group of local tribal leaders that started a wave of popular opposition against al Qaeda fighters in Iraq, said that he condemned what happened “because the American president is the guest of all Iraqis. The Iraqi government has to choose good journalists to attend such conferences.”
“This is unsuitable action by an Iraqi journalist,” said Kamal Wahbi, a 49-year-old engineer in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya, where pro-American sentiment is strong. “His action served terrorism and radical national extremism. I think he could send the same message by asking Bush embarrassing questions.”
Witnesses said that al-Zaidi had been severely beaten by security officers on Sunday after being tackled at the press conference and dragged out. One of his brothers, Maythem al-Zaidi, said Monday that the family had not heard from al-Zaidi since his arrest, and that a police officer who picked up al-Zaidi’s cell phone at midnight on Sunday had threatened the family.
It was unclear whether al-Zaidi had planned his actions beforehand, or whether – as his brother said – he had become infuriated by Bush’s words of farewell to Iraqis and made a spontaneous decision to insult him.
Head under Heels
An Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President Bush quickly became an Internet sensation.
Video clips of the incident, posted in several languages on YouTube, have been watched more than 1 million times.
A fan page dedicated to the shoe tosser quickly appeared on Facebook, where it gathered 1,382 acolytes around the world.
Meanwhile, a Denmark programmer posted the Bush Shoe Throw Game, and several quick thinkers created products commemorating the spectacle, including T-shirts, dog-shirts and a Bush shoe throw pillow.
© 2008 Hearst Communications Inc.
Iraqis Demand Release of Shoe-hurling Journalist
Chelsea J. Carter / Associated Press
BAGHDAD, (December 15, 2008) Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday to demand the release of a reporter who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush in anger at US policies, as support for the act and the journalist flowed in from across the Arab world.
The protests came as suicide bombers and gunmen targeted Iraqi police, plus US-allied Sunni guards and civilians, in a series of attacks Monday that killed at least 17 people and wounded more than a dozen others, officials said.
The journalist, Muntadhar al-Zeidi, was being held by Iraqi security Monday and interrogated about whether anybody had paid him to throw his shoes at Bush during a news conference Sunday in Baghdad, said an Iraqi official.
He was also being tested for alcohol and drugs, and his shoes were held as evidence, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Showing the sole of your shoe to someone in the Arab world is a sign of extreme disrespect, and throwing your shoes is even worse. Iraqis whacked a statue of Saddam Hussein with their shoes after US Marines toppled it after the 2003 US-led invasion.
Iraqi security guards wrestled al-Zeidi to the ground immediately after he tossed his shoes.
Bush was not hit by the shoes, but White House press secretary Dana Perino suffered an eye injury when she was hit in the face with a microphone during the melee.
On Monday, reporters were repeatedly searched and asked to show identification before entering the heavily guarded Green Zone, where the press conference took place.
Newspapers across the Arab world printed front-page photos of Bush ducking the flying shoes, and satellite TV stations repeatedly aired the incident, which was hailed by the president’s many critics in the region.
Many are fed up with US policy and still angry over Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam.
As many as 98,000 Iraqi civilians may have been killed since the war began, according to Iraq Body Count, an independent organization that tracks media reports as well as official figures. The war has cost nearly $576 billion so far, according to the National Priorities Project.
Wafa Khayat, 48, a doctor in the West Bank town of Nablus, called the attack “a message to Bush and all the US policy makers that they have to stop killing and humiliating people.”
In Jordan, a strong US ally, a 42-year-old businessman, Samer Tabalat, praised al-Zeidi as “the man. … He did what Arab leaders failed to do.”
Al-Zeidi’s TV station, Al-Baghdadia, repeatedly aired pleas to release the reporter Monday, while showing footage of explosions and playing background music that denounced the US military presence in Iraq.
“We have all been mobilized to work on releasing him,” said Abdel-Hameed al-Sayeh, the manager of Al-Baghdadia in Cairo, where the station is based.
Al-Jazeera television interviewed Saddam’s former chief lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi, who offered to defend al-Zeidi, calling him a “hero.”
In Baghdad’s Shiite slum of Sadr City, thousands of supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burned American flags to protest against Bush and call for the release of al-Zeidi.
“Bush, Bush, listen well: Two shoes on your head,” the protesters chanted.
In Najaf, a Shiite holy city, some protesters threw their shoes at a passing American patrol. Witnesses said the American troops did not respond and continued on their patrol.
Violence in Iraq has declined significantly over the past year but daily attacks continue. A truck bomb killed at least nine police officers Monday and wounded 13 others in Khan Dhari west of Baghdad, said Dr. Omar al-Rawi at the Fallujah hospital, where dead and wounded were taken.
The US military said eight Iraqi police officers were killed and 10 people were wounded in the blast. Conflicting casualty tolls are common in the chaotic aftermath of bombings.
Hours earlier, a female suicide bomber knocked on the front door of the leader of a local chapter of the Sunni volunteer militia north of Baghdad and blew herself up, killing him, said an Iraqi police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
Also Monday, gunmen killed seven people from a single family, members of the minority Yazidi sect, when they stormed into their home in northern Iraq, police said.
AP journalists from across the Mideast contributed to this report.
© 2008 Hearst Communications Inc.
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