Iraqi Journalist attacks Pres Bush with Shoes

[shesulsa]

Time was, a good Secret Service man would take a shoe for his President. Those days are gone.

Perhaps they know something we don't ....

Heh, if that had happened in the U.S. he would've been buried beneath so many Secret Service agents that he could be buried in a large flat mailing envelope. I remember when Ronald Reagan was shot...security people teleported in from nowhere to form the World's Largest Scrum.

I remember that. It was as though they were just suddenly there. An impressive sight, I must say.

It is a testament to the eyes and control of the SS that they did not start whipping out their weapons and such. They saw it was a shoe and that the President wasn't struck. Still they should've been able to stop the second shoe from being even thrown or at least stand in the way of it. I know they're supposed to catch bullets for the Prez but maybe they're not trained on catching shoes...

Kinda makes me wonder how well will they defend Obama? Oh of course they will I shouldn't doubt it.

Um ... not with shoes.

Sure he wasn't from the NYT?

:lol2:

 

[Brad Dunne]

UPI NEWS BULLETIN...................

Iraq, December 14, 2008...........
1300 Zulu................

President Bush on a secret arrival in Iraq to meet with the countries leaders, was the victim of an attempted walk-in-shoeing

The President bobbed and weaved

as the assailant threw both his shoes, that were not conditioned with Dr Shoals foot powder by the way,

at the Presidents head. The President was not hurt in the attempt, but medical personel are checking for athletes foot in mouth anyway.

The President went on to say and we quote, "If the shoe fits, don't throw it"!...........

Officials from Nike have stated that they intend to offer a new athletic shoe, designed for easy throwing, that will be balanced to fit the hand better.

On another front, the Korean Olympic council stated that they will attend the National OAC in March and seek to have KST (Korean Shoe Throwing) recognized as an Olympic medal sport.

 

[Gordon Nore]

I was watching some 'analysis' of this on the news. Naturally, after we had seen the clip 800 times, CNN felt obliged to bring in a protection expert to parse the attack. He suggested that the room was extremely secure, in that weapons could not have been brought in and that all present would have been screened through various databases. Had the Mr Bush been injured or if there was a lurking threat, he would have been pulled into a safe room.

The fact that the shoe was used was symbolic of this person's disdain for President Bush, since, as we have learned, the throwing of a shoe, or hitting someone with a shoe, is highly and intentionally offensive. The President himself joked about, perhaps not realizing the import of this event to others in the room.

As the protection commentator pointed out, the reporter could easily have thrown a camera at the President. Some things you can't plan for.

 

[shesulsa]

There is a thread about this in the Study complete with video.

 

[crushing]

Omg...you don't throw shoes at the most powerful person in the world. Especially a guy who legalized torture, secret prisons, suspension of habeus corpus, and rendition. That dude will never be seen again. Some people need to learn that there are some people that you just don't **** with.

Maybe Bush will have mercy on his sole?

 

[MA-Caver]

There is a thread about this in the Study complete with video.

Aye, suggest this one be moved/merged with the other... with all due respect to the OP

 

[terryl965]

To bad he missed

 

[terrylamar]

To bad he missed

Really, your advocating an attack on a sitting US President?

 

[Marginal]

Pretty agile for a lame duck.

 

[terryl965]

Really, your advocating an attack on a sitting US President?

It was a shoe and he was standing. Look he is making lite of it so why can't I? Ig it was something terrible then I would responed in a different manner but all the news has done is treat it as nothing and so has he, like he said it was a size 10 and laughed.

 

[Big Don]

nevermind

 

[Makalakumu]

Maybe Bush will have mercy on his sole?

:lfao:

 

[CoryKS]

Maybe Bush will have mercy on his sole?

He'd be a terrible heel not to.

 

[shesulsa]

It was a shoe and he was standing. Look he is making lite of it so why can't I? Ig it was something terrible then I would responed in a different manner but all the news has done is treat it as nothing and so has he, like he said it was a size 10 and laughed.

The thing is - in that reporter's culture, the sole of the shoe is the worst thing that could ever touch a person. So to throw a shoe at Bush is *really* insulting him. And the man doing so was a journalist for a television station. He had a much better way of delivering his opinion.

I'm asking this thread be merged with the study thread.

 

[MA-Caver]

I was watching some 'analysis' of this on the news. Naturally, after we had seen the clip 800 times, CNN felt obliged to bring in a protection expert to parse the attack. He suggested that the room was extremely secure, in that weapons could not have been brought in and that all present would have been screened through various databases. Had the Mr Bush been injured or if there was a lurking threat, he would have been pulled into a safe room.

The fact that the shoe was used was symbolic of this person's disdain for President Bush, since, as we have learned, the throwing of a shoe, or hitting someone with a shoe, is highly and intentionally offensive. The President himself joked about, perhaps not realizing the import of this event to others in the room.

As the protection commentator pointed out, the reporter could easily have thrown a camera at the President. Some things you can't plan for.

Aye, it's a clear message to me that they want the U.S. (and other forces) OUT! And well that we should. Get out entire and let them go as it may. Eventually they'll probably call us back for help.
They don't WANT a democracy there it's clear to say. Many do and many don't. Let THEM decide amongst themselves.

 

[CoryKS]

Aye, it's a clear message to me that they want the U.S. (and other forces) OUT! And well that we should. Get out entire and let them go as it may. Eventually they'll probably call us back for help.
They don't WANT a democracy there it's clear to say. Many do and many don't. Let THEM decide amongst themselves.

They? Them? So you're okay with letting one guy with a shoe dictate policy for ALL Iraqis? Or does "they" refer to him and the mouse in his pocket?

Eventually they'll probably call us back for help.

And presumably you'll look down and whisper, "No."

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Mod Note:
Threads Merged.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Just a couple bits.

1- I don't condone any attack on any US President regardless to my opinion of him.

2- In Iraq, to be hit with a shoe is a real big insult, kinda on par with being spit on or shat on.

The Iraqi journalist, Muntader al-Zaidi, 28, a correspondent for Al Baghdadia, an independent Iraqi television station, stood up about 12 feet from Bush and shouted in Arabic: "This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!" He then threw a shoe at Bush, who ducked and narrowly avoided it.

As stunned security agents and guards, officials and journalists watched, Zaidi then threw his other shoe, shouting in Arabic, "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!" That shoe also narrowly missed Bush as Prime Minister Maliki stuck a hand in front of the president's face to help shield him.

...

Hitting someone with a shoe is considered the supreme insult in Iraq. It means that the target is even lower than the shoe, which is always on the ground and dirty. Crowds hurled their shoes at the giant statue of Saddam that stood in Baghdad's Firdos Square before helping American marines pull it down on April 9, 2003, the day the capital fell. More recently in the same square, a far bigger crowd composed of Iraqis who had opposed the security agreement flung their shoes at an effigy of Bush before burning it.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/15/africa/15prexy.php

 

[Rich Parsons]

Just a couple bits.

1- I don't condone any attack on any US President regardless to my opinion of him.

2- In Iraq, to be hit with a shoe is a real big insult, kinda on par with being spit on or shat on.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/15/africa/15prexy.php

I think it was a risky thing to do, for little reward other than personal Glory of claiming to be the person to have hit him with a sole of the shoe or to show him the sole of a shoe.

He should have made his opinion known in his questioning.

I also do not agree with a physical attack on the President of the US. I do support using the system to make issues known and to bring forth grievences.

As to being really insulted, he could have been shot, and then bleed out. I think that would have been an insult. But, now he could be the guy who is killed as someone else needs to show they were not insulting him, and so they have to "do the right thing"

 

[Tez3]

It seems that being hit with a shoe and being called a dog are grave insults in Iraq which obviously was wasted on us as we didn't understand the significance! In fact it gave the president a chance to turn it into a joke.
Makes you wonder how many people we've inadvertantly insulted or who have insulted us without anyone being the wiser!