BAGHDAD – An Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush was being held for questioning by the Iraqi prime minister’s guards, an official said Monday, as Arabs across the Middle East hailed the incident as a proper send-off to the unpopular U.S. president.
Muntadar al-Zeidi was being interrogated over whether anybody paid him to throw his shoes at Bush during a press conference Sunday in Baghdad and was being tested for alcohol and drugs, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Al-Zeidi’s colleagues said the journalist was kidnapped last year by Shiite militias and released after his TV station, Al-Baghdadia, intervened.
The Shiite journalist, who is in his late 20s, was being held at the headquarters of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said the official. His shoes were being held as evidence, he added.
Al-Baghdadia repeatedly aired pleas to release al-Zeidi on Monday, while showing footage of explosions and playing background music that denounced the U.S. in Iraq.
“We have all been mobilized to work on releasing him, and all the organizations around the world are with us,” said Abdel-Hameed al-Sayeh, the manager of Al-Baghdadia in Cairo, where the station is based. “This whole thing is putting the Iraqis and the Americans to a test. Are they going to release him or try him?”
Called a ‘hero’
Al-Jazeera television interviewed Saddam Hussein’s chief lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi, who offered to defend al-Zeidi, calling him a “hero.”
Al-Jazeera and many other Arab satellite TV stations repeatedly aired the incident Monday. Al-Zeidi leapt from his chair as Bush and al-Maliki were about to shake hands Sunday and hurled his shoes at the president, who was about 20 feet away.
“This is a farewell kiss, you dog,” he yelled in Arabic. “This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.”
Al-Zeidi was immediately wrestled to the ground by Iraqi security guards.
Many other Arab journalists and commentators, fed up with U.S. policy in the Middle East and Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam, echoed al-Zeidi’s sentiments Monday.
Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the influential London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, wrote on the newspaper’s Web site that the incident was “a proper goodbye for a war criminal.”
Beyond extreme disrespect
Showing the sole of your shoe to someone in the Arab world is a sign of extreme disrespect, and striking someone with them is even worse.
“This great Arab shoe sums up the history of the criminal Bush, who is responsible for the loss of lives of hundreds of thousands of Islamic sons and who remained arrogant, spiteful and mean-spirited until the last moment of his term,” wrote Abdel-Sattar Qassem, a political science professor at An Najah University in the West Bank town of Nablus, on a Palestinian Web site.
Thousands took to the streets Monday in Baghdad’s Shiite slum of Sadr City, where supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burned American flags to protest against Bush and called for the release of al-Zeidi.
“Bush, Bush, listen well: Two shoes on your head,” the protesters chanted.
Ghufran al-Saidi, a Shiite lawmaker from al-Sadr’s bloc, told AP that she was demanding the immediate release of al-Zeidi.
WOW buti sapatos lang ang inabot nýa di bomba?
Yong other kabyak ng shoes e may kasama ng TNT yan para sa pinaka sakit ng ulo sa ating lipunan.
If someone, a reporter, could freely throw shoes at a foreign leader, a powerful nation’s President (Bush), what would prevent someone from throwing something more dangerous? That was a very embarrassing farewell gesture from Iraqis. Majority of the Iraqis are very mad at US particularly Bush. That incident was something he would long remember.
I know there’s no local Filipino reporter as courageous as that Iraqi reporter. And even if we have one in the Philippines, he or she would be shot by the Evil Bitch’s security. Maybe someone in another land could do what that Iraqi reporter did…to the Evil Bitch. Our very own Cocoy could pretend to be a local reporter in San Francisco and do the same to Gloria when she holds a press conference there.
However, Cocoy’s shoes smell better than that of the Iraqi’s.
The TV failed to show the entire “shoes throwing” incident. It was reported that Bush picked up the shoes and threw back at that reporter and shouted “That’s not my size!”
Is throwing a shoe at a foreign dignitary “heroism” at marami ang humahanga? Ganoon ba ka babaw ang maging hero?
Sino ang naging kahiyahiya si Bush? or the Irqi government?
Pero kung sabagay do they (Iragis) know the meaning of “hiya”? I wonder!
Rose, I wish you could do the same to GMA when she visits your place. Anyway, my worry is that Americans who travel to other countries especially in the Middle East might experience the same…shoes being thrown at them. The beginning of the fall of the American Empire.
Rose, that was a powerful statement against international bullying and disrespect of another nation’s sovereignty that the Iraqi journalist made. He deserves to be applauded.
Hindi kababawan yun, Rose. Ang hindi nakaka-intindi noon ang mababaw.
Your question if the Iraqis know the meaning of “hiya” should be addressed to your president, George Bush. Yun ba marunong mahiya?
Dapat lang! I clapped my hands in fact when I saw the news on CNN about this shoe throwing at Dubya in Iraq. Nakakakulo ng dugo iyong ngisi ng gunggong sa totoo lang. Dapat lang magalit ang mga Iraqi sa ginawa ni Bush sa kanila. The figure of innocent Iraqis killed since the invasion of Iraq ordered by Bush has now reached 1,284,105.
I wish someone would do the same at Gloria Mandarambong when she brags about her economic policy abroad.
Hiya? Si Bush ang dapat mahiya sa ginawa niya sa Iraq. Ang tapang ng apog ng ungas na mag-final check pa ng ginawa niyang kahayupan sa Iraq na wala namang kinalaman sa 9/11. Dapat lang siyang ipadala sa ICC para mahatulan ng crime against humanity sa ginawa niya, pati na pangloloko sa kapwa niya mga Amerikano. Kundi ba naman unggoy, kinasabwat pa iyong mga Pakistani na lumalabas ngayon na doon pala sa Pakistan nandoon iyong mga sinasabi niyang terrorist.
Alam naman ng mga kano iyan sa totoo lang na ang Islamic Fundamentalism ay nagsimula sa Pakistan. Nanloko pa ang ungas! O di sila rin ang nagiging biktima ng mga kabulastugan nila!
Signs of the time! Malapit na nga siguro!
Grizzy,
Karma…remember, e di nakatikim siya ng sapatos na lumilipad? Anong made kaya yon at makabili nito?
Daig pa ang MOAB na ibinagsak sa Bagdhad, kita sa buong mundo and flying shoe ni MZ…, baka pwedeng hiramin yong kabyak at ipadala sa Pinas.
Maging simbolo ito ng katapangan ng duhaging pagkatao!
Uunahan ko na si Nerd Golez …. hindi gagawin na batuhin ng sapatos si Glorya dahil tayo ay matured na. Anong hindi … babatuhin ko ng sapatos na may ebak!!!!!!
Sorry Rose. Many don’t share your opinion.
Tedanz, ang buryong na diwa pag sobra na e wala na itong sinisinu-sino?
Nagpapakita lamang ng tunay na damdamin ang inabot ni uncle sam, buti nga sapatos lang ang inabot niya?
Well Ka Rose…yong flying shoes ng pobre e sumasagisag lamang ito ng pagkadismaya ng kinauukulan, so sa simpleng kapamaraanan e naipahayag niya ang nagpupuyos na galit at sama ng loob.
Ang Kano nga e di ba flying MOAB ang ibinagsak sa Iraq so halos mapulbos ang mga tao doon.
Pag meron gustong magbato ng sapatos kay Gloria, suggest ko lang bakya nalang ang ipambato. Saka dapat magpractice para masentro yung nunal sa mukha. He he he 🙂
Kaya pinaiwan yun 3000 pairs na sapatos sa malacanan baka pambato ni Imelda sa mga kano kung maglanding sa Hawwaii at di sa Paoay.
Kabsat nga Balweg … yong sapatos na ibinato ay gawa sa kanila yon yong sandal na gawa sa balat ng Camel … mabigat yon. At yong ibabato ko naman kay Glorya ay gawa sa Kingdom ng mga Fernando’s. Kasama si Bayani … lol
Itapon kaya yung malaking sapatos ng Marikina River Bank sa Parig River Bank.
Either may ethics parin mga journalist natin o ayaw itapon ang sapatos nila.
Off topic. Heard so many Filipinos invested with Madoff. Cache-ing in Swiss banks are no longer in vogue.
Our soldiers could throw their military boots at Esperon, Palparan, Yano and others.
Bakit sapatos lang? Itapon ang pekeng pangulong Gloria Arroyo sa Pasig River kasama ang kanyang mga alipores.
Tee-hee! Shoes thorwn at Bush? Not flowers? Didn’t Dick Cheney once pompously declare, “We will be greeted as liberators. The Iraqis will throw flowers at our troops.”
What I regret though is that the shoe thrower missed! (I wonder if the shoe thrower would be taken to Guantanamo Bay for more “interrogation.”)
That shoe thrower should be awarded a medal for doing what millions of people all over the world wanted to do but never did.
I betcha that guy is gonna be an international political rock star soon with a solid fan base worldwide! Tee hee!
It was a good thing that Bush knew how to duck. He ducked like a duck. A lame duck President could duck.
R: “suggest ko lang bakya nalang ang ipambato.” — Mike
Dapat ibato sa gagang Gloria na iyan ay Dutch clogs (heavy duty bakya), mas mabigat!
“Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the influential London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, wrote on the newspaper’s Web site that the incident was “a proper goodbye for a war criminal.”
Agree!
Billy Esposo wrote:
For George W. Bush, this incident may yet be the most vivid video that captures the condemnation his Iraq War misadventure has generated in the US, in Iraq and all over the world. Bush was reduced to level of absurdity trying to duck the two shoes. History tends to perpetuate these caricatures of failed leaders.
The Iraq War was what galvanized American rejection of the Republicans in the 2006 US midterm elections where the Democrats gained the upper hand in both house of the US Congress. After the economic downturn, the Iraq War caused the John McCain rout last month by Barack Obama.
For our Madame Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, it may be just a matter of time when irate Filipinos will start throwing missiles at her. She must fervently pray that it will just be a shoe.
Americans are already suggesting A medal for the shoe thrower in Iraq!!
Sa Gensan noon, binato si Ramos ng mga itlog. I just can’t remember kung raw or boiled! Pero di ba mas masakit ang sigawan kang “P——–I—-mo?” Buti na lang sa Cha-cha indirectly in-address ni Sen. Roxas or else….lagot kang Senador ka!
Sa Pinas naman, siguradong mga matitigas na Pan de sal lang ang tatama sa mukha ni Gorang! Mas magalang daw ang mga Pinoy ournalists eh…sabi nila! At saka wala pa namang gumagawa nito…busog kasi ang karamihan sa kanila!
Tama si Elvira: “busog kasi ang karamihan sa kanila!”
Ang lupit mo naman Anna, Dutch clogs! Tama na yung manipis at magaang na karate shoes ang tumama sa mukha ni Pandak.
Kaya lang dapat nakasuot pa sa paa ni Chuck Norris.
Mas matindi kung sa mga paa ni Ongbak (Tony Jaa of Thailand) nakasuot ang Dutch clogs!
BE: Sorry to disappoint you but I will not throw a pebble at Gloria…bakit ako maging bastos sa isang bastos?..I will not give her the benefit of lowering myself to her level..pero putot din ako kaya lang 4’11 siya 4’11 and a half ako..mataas pa din in any language!
..Americans may have to worry traveling in the Middle East..kahit US citizen ako..nobody take me as one..as a matter of fact that not even as Pinoy..many take me as Chinese..sa passport ko because I put maiden name as my middle name..they take as Spanish..
Di ko yata kilala si Ongbak, ha, chi?
BTW, malupit si Bernie Madoff, peke pala pero bigtime! $50B pa lang ang inaamin niya ang nadale niya sa mga bangko, hedge funds, at managed clients. Napakalaking Ponzi scheme nito magmumukhang amateur sila Fat Gentlepig at Ricky Razon kumpara kay Madoff. Sikat na independent broker yan sa Manhattan at yung opisina niya yung oval-shaped na Lipstick Bldg. ba ang pangalan nun. Ang galing naman niya.
Diyan dapat nag-eenrol sila Mikey at Dato para matuto pa ng scam. Ang kaibahan niyan ang binibiktima ni Madoff yung mayayaman, samantalang itong First Animals, bansang Pilipinas ang ninanakawan.
Isa pa, yung credit default ng Ecuador $31M lang pala pero hindi nila babayaran kahit meron silang $6B reserves. Maliit lang iyan kung tutuusin pero napakalaki niyan kung maraming mangungutang na mga bansa gaya ng Pilipinas ang gumaya diyan. Lalong malulugmok ang mga bangko sa America pag nagkataon.
Kasama ba iyan sa karma ng Amerika? Yan dapat ang ginagawa ng Pilipinas, kahit man lang kalahati ang ipostpone, hindi naman natin tatalikuran yung utang kaya lang e pagkatapos na ng umunlad tayo. Malaking bagay yung P600B taun-taon na ibinabayad sa interes pa lang!
Pagkatapos e ibinulsa lang ng mga hayop na pulitiko!
Ongbak is a film about Muay Thai (boxing din yan pero dehins pwede si Pakyaw dahil matinding sipaan, tuhuran, sikuhan, pinagsama-samang martial arts ni Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Chuck Norris, James Bond, at pabali-baliktad ni Matrix. Tony Jaa the actor is a muay thai practitioner in real life, ang galing talaga. He was in the US last year promoting his film, performing the stunts and his arts without a double.
Yup, pati charities ay pinatos ni Madoff. He himself is bankrupt already kaya bad news na walang aasahang makukuhang pabalik from him ang mga naglalakihang investors na kasama ang UBS, Banco Santander, Steven Spielberg, New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon, New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, and real-estate magnate Mort Zuckerman, etc. Yan na yata ang biggest Ponzi scheme in history. Brilliant si Madoff, sino ba namang maghihinalang fraud pala e dati syang NASDAQ CEO.
At least ng mabisto ay umamin kaagad si Madoff, itong mga baboy na lumalamon ng kaban ni Inang-bayan ay deny to death pa rin at sila pa ang matatapang ang apog. Yan ang gusto ko sa ‘merika…kapag bad ka, huli ka (mas high profile mas matindi ang imbestigasyon). Sa Pinas, palagi lusot ang mga baboy.
Sino kaya nagpatanntanggal ang you tube dito? Wah nah!
Balweg:
Balita ko made in China iyong sapatos! Baka may toxic substance na pag tumama sa kaniya, tepok siya. Unfortunately, nasanggi noong SP ni Bush. Pero nakita mo ba ang ngisi ng gunggong. Parang nakakaloko. Hindi man lang natinag kasi ang palagay niya sa sarili niya, he is the most powerful man in the world today. Wala raw binatbat si Obama na dapat daw siyang sundin. Balak pa yata ng grupo ng unggoy na ipaligpit si Obama kapag nagpilit na tanggalin ang mga kano kahit na sa Afghanistan. Tignan natin ang susunod na kabanata sa kasaysayan ng America at mundo.
Meanwhile, tuloy ang batikos kahit na tipa lang ng daliri sa computer. 😛
Kulang yung ibinato kay Bush!
Dapat pagkatapos ibato ang sapatos, yung medyas ang isinunod. Kung kulang pa, yung brief. Tapos yung upuan niya pati camera. Eh kulang!!!
But unfortunately, time ran out. There was not enough time to do all the things you suggested, Golberg. The US Security Service immediately rushed inside.
May ilang segundo pa siya nun.
Kung di man nagawa yung medyas at brief, sana yung upuan.
Kasi di naman agad lumapit yung mga secret service matapos yung ikalawang sapatos na maibato.
Medyo kulang siya sa diskarte at plano.
Pero sabagay, impromptu yun kaya wala talaga sa isip gaano.
The chair was too heavy for that Iraqi reporter. He didn’t throw the socks because he was not wearing any.
There’s a latest news report that the reason why that Iraqi reporter threw his shoes was because he found something inside his shoes…mouse or cockroach. This would be the legal argument being prepared by his defense lawyer.
chi,
tumatalon si ongbak ng taas ng dalawang taong magkapatong o higit pa.
kung buhay pa sana si wengweng, tamangtama ang lipad niya sa mukha ni glorya!
Haha! Napanuod mo pala si Ongbak. Galing no? Yan ang gusto ko na sumipa sa pagmumukha ni Gloria!
Sino naman si wengweng? Sya ba ang ililipad ni Ongbak sa mukha ni pandakekak?
yes, chi.
ongbak is tony jaa.
huwag mo nang ikumpara si pakyaw sa kanya dahil hindi sa ibaba kundi sa itaas siya paliliguan at hihilamusan ng sipa ni ongbak (tony).
Hahaha! Gusto pa naman sanang makita kung paano sasangga si Pakyaw.
I signed in for the release of the brave Iraqi journalist. Dapat lang siyang magalit dahil itong si Bush para pang sinasabi na na-convince niya si Obama na huwag tuparin ang pangako niyang pauuwiin na ang mga kano sa Iraq even after Americans admitted that Iraq nor Saddam had anything to do with Al Qaeda and the 9/11. Kapal din ng mukha ng pinaka-hated president of the US. Kung ako si Laura Bush, itatakwil ko ang bobong asawa niya.
3 cheers for the Iraqi journalist!
Sorry, not signed in but signed up.
rose Says:
December 15th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Is throwing a shoe at a foreign dignitary “heroism” at marami ang humahanga? Ganoon ba ka babaw ang maging hero?
Sino ang naging kahiyahiya si Bush?
**********************
Ang nakakahiya ay puwersahang tanggalin ang isang lehitimong liderato at magtatag ng isang Puppet na gobyerno at huthutin ang langis ng bansang Iraq.
Ang nakakahiya ay suportahan ang mga animal na diktador, kapalit ang pasariling kapakanan ng Imperyalistang Amerika.
Thumbs up, Tilamsik!
sharmoutah ka, gloria!
sa bawat kasinungalingang lumalabas sa iyong bibig,
parang kutsilyong humiwa’t tumatarak sa aming dibdib
wala na bang katapusan ang gahaman mong pagkahilig
kahit saan ka pumunta’y buhangin ang ‘yong nilulubid
ang lahat ng panlilinlang sa katotohana’y pawang lihis!
alis d’yan, bakit ba anong tigas ng iyong hiya?
ikaw, kayong mag-anak na mararangal na timawa
ubod kayong sakdal sakim, wala kayong pagkasawa
sampu ng mga alipores mong animo ay mga daga
pinagbibili ang prinsipyo, pati dangal ay sinalaula!
kung ayaw mo ng dasalan, maghintay ka at darating,
sandaling nalalabi’y sumusulak na ang damdamin
kaming mga mamamayang kaytagal n’yo nang inalipin
unti unting nagbabangon sa matagal na pagkahimbing
tanging dugo at buhay n’yo ang bayad sa paniningil!
chi,
napanood ko na noon pa kung paano mag-demonstrate si tony jaa, kaya alam ko ang kakayahan niya pagdating sa martial arts. nililipad niya’t pinaplaying kik ang nakataas na props na hawak ng taong nakatayo sa balikat ng tinutuntungang kasama. lumilipad talaga sa ere at nagbibigay ng triple kick!
si wengweng ay ‘yung unanong martial artist na gumaganap noon sa mga pelikulang pinoy na may ilang taon na ring namayapa. kahit mas maliit ‘yun kay guya kayang kaya niyang bigyan ng playing kik sa mukha ang inang putang sinungaling na timawa!
This is why Nelson Mandela, the statesman of South Africa, was so right when he said the United States, under George W. Bush, is the real threat to the peace and security of the world.
He tells us why: it is primarily because of the oil interests of the U.S.. Iraq has the second biggest oil reserves in the world, and American oil companies are itching to get in once Saddam is ousted from power”
International Herald Tribune issue of Sept. 16, 2002 , cites a Washington Post article on its front page that says:
“ A U.S.-led ouster of President Saddam Hussein could open a bonanza for American oil companies long banished from Iraq… American and foreign oil companies have already begun maneuvering for a stake in the country’s proven reserves of 112 billion barrels of crude oil, the largest in the world outside Saudi Arabia.”
Well, Tilamsik…all these comments about Bush legacy now a history! All regimes have their own history either good or bad, but people never learn from their mistakes and wrong doings.
After the case against the Iraqi reporter has been decided, his shoes would be for sale to the highest bidder. Already, one shoe collector offered $2M for that pair of shoes.
Exactly BE…MZ shoes a symbol of heroism against powerfull Bush! In layman’s word, flying shoes lang pala ang katapat niya.
At least, pabaon ito sa pagbaba niya sa trono. He deserved a Distinguished Flying Shoes instead of a Distinguished Flying Cross for his 8-years in power.
in pinas, only women throw their shoes when angry.
In Japan, women remove their husbands’ shoes.
What Bush experienced was something he would long remember. The only US President being treated such a way at a foreign land. If the Evil Bitch dies, I shall spit at her grave!
bitche,
bush only deserved what he got.
can’t you imagine yourself with your family being displaced by war with no just basis and only suspicion but the true motive is to seize your country’s resources?