Free the shoeman! Iraqis take to the streets to hail Bush protester a hero

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 11:54 PM on 15th December 2008

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Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets today to demand the release of the journalist who threw his shoes at George Bush.

Arabs throughout the Middle East hailed Muntadhar Al-Zeidi as a hero and praised his insult as a proper sendoff to the reviled U.S. president, who was paying a farewell visit to the country his forces invaded.

Mr Zeidi had yelled: 'This is a farewell kiss, you dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq,' as he hurled the footwear during a press conference in Baghdad on Sunday.



A man armed with a shoe and a mock poster of George Bush with a 'war criminal' written in Arabic during a protest in Najaf, Iraq, today

Tonight the TV reporter, who is in his late 20s, was still being interrogated by Iraqi security agents. He is likely to face a charge of insulting the Iraqi state.

In the Muslim world, showing the sole of your shoe to someone, or throwing it, is a sign of extreme disrespect.

Iraqis hit a toppled statue of Saddam Hussein with their shoes after the 2003 invasion.

Newspapers across the Arab world printed front-page photos of Mr Bush ducking the shoes and satellite TV stations showed the incident repeatedly.

Mr Zeidi's TV station, Al Baghdadia, screened repeated pleas for his release, while showing footage of explosions and playing music that denounced the U.S. in Iraq.

Al Jazeera TV interviewed Saddam's former chief lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi, who offered to defend Mr Zeidi and called him a hero. In Baghdad's Sadr City, thousands of supporters of radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burned U.S. flags and called for the release of Mr Zeidi.

'Bush, Bush, listen well: Two shoes on your head,' they chanted.

In Najaf, a Shia holy city, some protesters-threw their shoes at a U.S. patrol.

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Responses in other countries were ecstatic. 'Al-Zeidi is the man,' said Jordanian Samer Tabalat. 'He did what Arab leaders failed to do.'

In Libya, a charity group headed by leader Muammar Gaddafi's daughter Aicha, said it planned to give Mr Zeidi an award for courage.

When asked about the shoe incident shortly afterwards, President Bush made light of it, joking that he thought the shoes were about size ten.

'It doesn't bother me,' he added. 'It's like going to a political rally and have people yell at you. It's a way for people to draw attention.'

Bush smiled uncomfortably and Maliki looked strained in the moments following the attack.

Other Iraqi journalists apologised on behalf of their colleague.



The Iraqi journalist surprises the room as he launches his shoes at Bush

When Mr Bush met with reporters later aboard Air Force One, he had a joke prepared: 'I didn't know what the guy said but I saw his "sole".' Later, he said: 'I'm going to be thinking of shoe jokes for a long time. I haven't heard any good ones yet.'

At the news conference Mr Bush declared: 'The war is not over. There is still more work to be done.'



Al-Zeidi has since been arrested and charged

Moving from one battle zone to another, today Mr Bush flew to Afghanistan where he told reporters and President Hamid Karzai that the U.S. would stand by the war-torn country despite a transition of power at the White House.

'I told the president you can count on the United States. Just like you've been able to count on this administration, you will be able to count on the next administration as well,' Mr Bush told a news conference.

On Sunday, he applauded security gains in Iraq and, referring to a security pact paving the way for US troops to withdraw, he said that just two years ago 'such an agreement seemed impossible.'

'There is hope in the eyes of Iraq's young,' Mr Bush said. 'This is the future of what we've been fighting for.'

Al-Maliki said: 'Today, Iraq is moving forward in every field.'

For the first time Bush landed in Air Force One at Baghdad International Airport in broad daylight and during the visit he also ventured outside the security of the Green Zone to visit al-Maliki in his palace.

The unannounced visit came just 37 days before Bush gives way to President-elect Barack Obama, who has vowed to end the Iraq war.

'The work hasn't been easy but it has been necessary for American security, Iraqi hope and world peace,' Bush said.

'I'm just so grateful I had the chance to come back to Iraq before my presidency ends.'

His visit followed the recent signing of a U.S.-Iraq security agreement that requires American forces to withdraw by the end of 2011.

Almost 150,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq fighting a conflict that is intensely unpopular in the United States and across the globe.

More than 4,200 American servicemen and women have died and the war has cost U.S. taxpayers $576 billion (£385 billion) since it began five years and nine months ago.



The man is bundled away by security personnel

After landing in Baghdad, Bush began a rapid-fire series of meetings with top Iraqi leaders and thanked U.S. troops.

Bush met first with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and the country's two vice presidents, Tariq al-Hashemi and Adel Abdul-Mahdi.

'I've known these men for a long time and I've come to admire them for their courage and their determination to succeed,' Bush said.

Talabani called Bush 'our great friend' who had 'helped to liberate' Iraq.



Bush shakes hands with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (far right) and vice presidents Adel Abdul Mahdi (left) and Tareq al-Hashimi (right) during a meeting at Salam Palace in Baghdad

Later, Bush met Prime Minister al-Maliki for probably the last time in their respective roles.

Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the new security pact between the U.S. and Iraq was unique in the Arab world because it had been publicly debated, discussed and adopted by an elected parliament.

The brief visit was meant to showcase recent security gains in Iraq but was also a stark reminder of how heavily the war will weigh on the Republican president's foreign policy legacy.



Bush shares a chat with General Ray Odierno, Commander of U.S. forces in Iraq

Yesterday, after Air Force One touched down at Bagram air base outside Kabul, Bush was greeted by hundreds of troops greeted him with raucous cheers as he thanked them for their service.

'I am confident we will succeed in Afghanistan because our cause is just,' he told them.

Mr Bush, who has already ordered a troop increase in Afghanistan, appeared to lend tacit support to President-elect Barack Obama's pledge to increase troop levels even more after he takes office on January 20.

'I want him to succeed, I want him to do well,' Mr Bush said of Obama. 'I'd expect you'll see more U.S. troops here as quickly as possible in parts of the country that are being challenged by the Taliban.'



The President smiles during an official meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani

Mr Obama has promised to make Afghanistan a higher priority, saying the Bush administration has been too distracted by the unpopular Iraq war to pay Afghanistan the attention it deserves.

But Mr Bush said much progress had been made in Afghanistan since U.S. and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001 for sheltering al Qaeda leaders behind the Sept. 11 attacks and said dozens of roads, schools and hospitals had been built.

But an Afghan reporter challenged the President, saying the United States had failed to make good on promises to bring security.

'I respectfully disagree with you,' Mr Bush replied. 'I just cited the progress. It's undeniable. I never said the Taliban was eliminated, I said they were removed from power. They are lethal and they are tough.'



Bush shakes hands with President Talabani during his final visit to the country

Iraq watchers say last year's surge in U.S. military forces has led to improved security in the country.

Last month, attacks fell to the lowest monthly level since the war began in 2003. However, there were at least 55 deaths on Thursday in a suicide bombing in a restaurant.

Mr Bush said in a recent interview with an American TV network that the 'biggest regret' of his presidency was flawed intelligence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

He used that intelligence as a key justification for going to war, but no such weapons were found.



Incoming President Barack Obama has promised to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq

Mr Obama has promised to bring all U.S. combat troops back home from Iraq a little over a year into his term, as long as commanders agree a withdrawal would not endanger American personnel or Iraq's security.

It's expected the incoming Democratic administration will shift troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, where a resurgent Taliban is causing problems for coalition forces.

Commanders in Afghanistan want at least 20,000 more personnel to bolster their ranks and improve security, but cannot get them unless some leave Iraq.

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