Iraq Sees Journalist, Shoe Thrower as a National Hero

The story of the disenchanted Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush over the weekend took a surreal turn as the president brushed off the incident but fellow Iraqis quickly elevated the culprit, Muntazer al-Zaidi, to the status of national folk hero. It has become apparent that the incident was precipitated by the vocal journalist’s anger at Bush for the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, during which thousands of Iraqis died. For their part, the Iraqi government still has al-Zaidi detained and has decried the shoe-throwing incident as a "barbaric act."

Al-Zaidi’s employer, al-Baghadadiya Television, has demanded his release and have been aided in their efforts by thousands of demonstrators in Sadr City, Basra and Najaf. Some protestors also took it upon themselves to hurl shoes at passing U.S. convoys. Udai al-Zaidi, Muntazer’s brother, noted, "Thanks be to God, Muntazer’s act fills Iraqi hearts with pride. I’m sure many Iraqis want to do what Muntazer did. Muntazer used to say all the orphans whose fathers were killed are because of Bush."

The reactions of many Iraqis are quite similar, with Baghdad resident Abu Hussein claiming, "It was the throw of the century. I believe Bush deserves what happened to him because he has not kept his promises to Iraqis. As for the shoes thrown at Bush, Fawzi Akram, a Turkman lawmaker, perhaps summed it up best when he said, "Al-Zaidi’s shoe is the most famous shoe in the whole world." In related reports, Iraqis are apparently sending and receiving spoofed text messages by the thousands on their cell phones noting that all Iraqis attending press conferences in the future will have to remove their shoes "for security purposes."