Zoopolitik

Bush Shoe Thrower Defends His Action

by Harry Haller at 03:55 PM | Bay at the Moon | Ping Me!

In case you’ve forgotten Muntadar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who became a hero to Arabs on the street after he hurled his shoes at then-President George W. Bush, he got his day in court on Thursday. Appearing before judge Abdul Amir al-Rubaie, he defended his behavior, saying Bush was not an “official” guest of prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. “Guests should knock on the door,” he insisted. “Those who come sneaking in are not guests.” About an hour later the judge postponed the proceeding until March 12 “to seek an opinion from the Iraqi government about whether Bush’s final visit to Baghdad was indeed an ‘official’ one.”

Following his courtroom appearance, Zaidi spoke with reporters and explained what led him to strike out:

During the news conference, Zaidi said, he became enraged as Bush provided an upbeat assessment of the security situation. “I did not know what achievements he was talking about,” Zaidi said. “I was seeing a million martyrs, seas of Iraqi blood, the desecration of mosques, the raping of Iraqi women and the humiliation Iraqis endure every day, every hour. Because I am a journalist, I know all about that.”

Bush smirked “icily” as he spoke, Zaidi said, and flashed a “smile with no spirit.” As the news conference was winding down and the two heads of state were preparing to dine together, Zaidi said he was overtaken by rage.

“In that moment, I only saw Bush,” he said. “I was feeling the blood of innocent people flow under my feet as he was smiling. I felt that he is the killer of my people, and I am one of those people. I became emotional because he’s responsible for what is going on in Iraq, so I hit him with my shoe.”

The journalist’s initial account of the incident was taken under duress, as he received electric shocks, he said.

A crowd of Iraqis applauded as Zaidi was taken from the hearing and returned to jail.

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