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Iraq cheers reporter for Bush shoe attack
Press
TV
Monday, Dec 15, 2008
Citizens in Baghdad have ennobled a frogmarched Iraqi reporter
for throwing his shoes at lame duck US President George W. Bush.
Iraqi reporter Muntadhar al-Zaidi shocked the world on Sunday
by hurling his shoes at the visiting US president, who had come
to the war-torn country to say farewell.
Sitting in the third row at a press conference attended by Iraqi
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the reporter 'jumped up' and shouted
"It is the farewell kiss, you dog."
He then threw his shoes one after the other toward Bush, who
was reportedly not hurt. Bush ducked and the first shoe hit the
American and Iraqi flags behind the two leaders, while Maliki
tried to block the second shoe as it flew toward Bush.
(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)
Iraqi security staff 'frogmarched' the journalist out.
Iraqi television responded by demanding the immediate release
of the al-Baghdadia correspondent and called on authorities to
respect the right of the detained in exercising "freedom
of expression".
"Al-Baghdadia television demands that the Iraqi authorities
immediately release their stringer Muntadhar al-Zaidi, in line
with the democracy and freedom of expression that the American
authorities promised the Iraqi people," reads a statement
released by the station.
Baghdad citizens also voiced approval over the stunning act and
raked the police over the coals for the arrest.
In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt.
Iraqis bashed the statue of Saddam with their shoes after US marines
toppled it to the ground following the devastating 2003 invasion.
A study conducted by ORB -- a well-known British polling agency
which has been tracking public opinion in Iraq since 2005 -- estimated
in September 2007 that 1.2 million Iraqis had been killed in violence-related
incidents following the March 2003 invasion of the country.
This is while Human Rights Watch estimates put the number of
those killed during a period of twenty years of the reign of deposed
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein at 250,000 to 290,000.
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