On 14 December 2008, Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi removed his shoes and threw them at then United States president George W. Bush during a joint press conference with Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad, Iraq. Bush quickly ducked, avoiding being hit by either shoe. The second shoe collided with a U.S. flag positioned behind Bush. Al-Zaidi was subsequently grabbed, and removed from the room by security.
Al-Zaidi received a three-year prison sentence, which was reduced by two years. On 15 September 2009, after nine months of imprisonment, he was released early as he had no prior criminal record.
There have since been many other shoe-throwing incidents on an international scale.
Event
During a 14 December 2008 press conference at the prime minister's palace in Baghdad, Iraq, Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw both of his shoes at United States president George W. Bush. Bush was scheduled to leave office roughly five weeks later, following the inauguration of his successor Barack Obama. As he threw his first shoe, al-Zaidi yelled "This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, dog", in Arabic. As he threw the second, he yelled "This is for the widows and the orphans and all those murdered in Iraq". Bush ducked twice, successfully avoiding both shoes, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki attempted to catch one of the shoes to protect him. Al-Zaidi was pulled to the floor by Blackwater security guards before being grabbed by Maliki's guards, kicked, and rushed out of the room. White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was hit in the face by a microphone boom knocked over by a presidential bodyguard, resulting in a black eye.
Bush said that some Iraqi reporters had apologized to him. "Thanks for apologizing on behalf of the Iraqi people. It doesn't bother me", he said. "If you want the facts, it's a size 10 shoe that he threw." When asked about the incident by another reporter, Bush said, "It's a way for people to draw attention. I don't know what the guy's cause was. I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it." When later asked to reflect on the incident, Bush said, "I didn't have much time to reflect on anything, I was ducking and dodging. I'm not angry with the system. I believe that a free society is emerging, and a free society is necessary for our own security and peace." Perino said: "I don't think that you can take one guy throwing his shoe as representative of the people of Iraq."
Al-Zaidi was initially held by the prime minister's guards and was later turned over to the Iraqi army's Baghdad command. The command handed him over to the Iraqi judiciary. Hundreds of Iraqis took to the streets to demand his release. Al-Zaidi could have faced charges of insulting a foreign leader and the Iraqi prime minister. A conviction of these charges could have carried a sentence of up to two years in prison or a small fine, although he would have been unlikely to face the maximum penalty given his newfound "cult status" in the Arab world, according to a Middle-East observer. An Iraqi lawyer stated that al-Zaidi was likely to get at least two years in prison if he was prosecuted. On 16 December 2008, al-Zaidi appeared privately before a judge from within the Green Zone. He declined to be represented by Khalil al-Duleimi, who defended the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein before his execution, and also said that he wanted to be represented by an Iraqi lawyer. "I will introduce myself as his lawyer and demand the case be closed, and Muntader be released because he did not commit a crime," said Dheyaa al-Saadi, al-Zaidi's lawyer and head of the Iraqi Bar Association. "He only freely expressed himself to the occupier, and he has such a right according to international law."
Context
Shoes are considered unclean in the Arab world. Effigies of many United States presidents had long appeared with shoes on them all over the Middle East. Matthew Cassel of The Electronic Intifada in the context of the "Bush shoeing" incident expressed the opinion that the Western media overplayed the phenomenon as being "Arab" in particular.
Reaction
Following the incident, The New York Times reported that al-Zaidi was embraced around the Arab world. Al-Zaidi found support from his employer, Awn Hussain Al Khashlok, thousands of protesters in Iraq, some Iraqi politicians, people in Syria, a charity in Libya, and from "around 200 lawyers" including some U.S. citizens. Al-Zaidi's action was criticised by the government of Nouri al-Maliki. After the incident the office of Nouri al-Maliki criticised al-Zaidi's action and "demanded" an on-air apology from Al-Baghdadia TV. Al-Baghdadia TV issued a statement demanding al-Zaidi's release:
Al-Baghdadia television demands that the Iraqi authorities immediately release their stringer Muntadhar al-Zaidi, in line with the democracy and freedom of expression that the American authorities promised the Iraqi people on the ousting of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.... Any measures against Muntadar will be considered the acts of a dictatorial regime.
In Tikrit, a 3-metre (10-foot) copper statue was dedicated to his action as a monument. It had his shoe's shape and an honouring poem as an inscription. It was designed by Laith al-Amari. The statue was taken down according to police order shortly after erection. Al-Zaidi was named as the world's third most powerful Arab, in the Arabian Business Power 100 list 2009.
A joke that was made amongst Iraqis stated that then Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, should be "called up" to the national football team as a goalkeeper as his attempt of blocking the shoe was made "masterfully".
In September 2009, London-based artist Pawel Waniewski created "Proud Shoes" in tribute to Muntazer al-Zaidi's "shoe flying" incident. Waniewski's tribute to Mr. al-Zaidi's was a 21 kg bronze piece of art depicting the thrown shoes, completely gilded in 24 carat gold.
On 3 March 2010, Blancox, a Colombian detergent manufacturer made an advertisement out of the shoe-throwing incident, by replacing the shoes with beautiful bouquets of flowers to signify "fabric freshness and softness treasured in it".
Malcolm Smart of Amnesty International said "the Iraqi authorities have a duty to investigate all allegations of torture or other ill-treatment of Muntadhar al-Zaidi and to prosecute any persons alleged to be responsible for such abuses. The Iraqi authorities should also disclose his whereabouts, ensure that he is permitted prompt and regular access to legal counsel, his family and to any medical attention he requires, and safeguard him from torture or other ill-treatment," he added.
Reporters Without Borders expressed its "regret that [al-Zaidi] used this method of protest against the politics of the American president". It said that "[al-Zaidi] was clearly injured during his arrest" and called for him to be released from custody. It referred to Bush's "relaxed way" of speaking about the incident as a reason for "leniency".
The International Federation of Journalists said al-Zaidi should be released for humanitarian reasons. "Given the controversy surrounding this incident, we urge the Iraqi security services to guarantee the physical well-being of this journalist, who was clearly injured during his arrest," the statement said. The IFJ said the incident "reflected deep anger at the treatment of Iraqi civilians during US occupation over the past four years of which journalists have been major victims" and that "the journalist might be under threat while in detention given the record of mistreatment of journalists in custody by US forces."
The Arab Lawyers Union called for a fair trial for the journalist, with the support of both the Arab League and the Egyptian government. "We urge all human rights organizations and the international society to help save the life of the Iraqi journalist and prevent any physical assault that may target him," union head Sameh Ashour said.
The Lebanese television channel NTV offered a job to al-Zaidi. NTV said that if al-Zaidi accepted the job offer, that he would be paid "from the moment the first shoe was thrown".
Al-Zaidi's family turned down an invitation by the Venezuelan president to come and live in the Latin American country. "We are grateful to President Hugo Chávez. However we are Iraqis, we live in Iraq," Oudai al-Zaidi said speaking on the behalf of his family.
On 15 December 2008, the Libyan charity group Wa Attasimou headed by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's daughter Aicha gave al-Zaidi a bravery award. The group urged for al-Zaidi's release.
In Syria, al-Zaidi was "hailed as a hero". The Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim praised the incident, calling it the "best show of retaliation so far". A commentary in the North Korean newspaper Minju Chosun said Bush "deserved" the shoe throwing incident as a result of "failed policy in Iraq".
A businessman offered his six-door Mercedes to Al-Zaidi for doing what "every single one of us has been wanting to do for a long time". The singer Shaaban Abdel Rahim wrote a song about Al-Zaidi, and an Egyptian man offered Al-Zaidi his 20-year-old daughter's hand in marriage. Comedic adaptions of the shoe throwing incident were featured on Afghan television, and in online shoe-throwing games such as "Sock and Awe".
On 29 December 2008, activists at the Iraqi consulate in Washington, D.C. delivered a petition calling for the release of al-Zaidi. "If he had wanted to hurt George Bush, he would have chosen a different weapon," a member of Code Pink said. "We want the Iraqi government and the world to know that there is a very good sentiment for him to be set free," said Nick Mottern, director of Consumers for Peace.
The Late Show with David Letterman "Great Moments in Presidential Speeches" segment included flying shoes aimed at other presidents (via digitally altered stock footage).
The Turkish company believed to have made the shoes thrown at Bush, Ramazan Baydan, experienced a surge in sales. Orders for 300,000 pairs were received in one week. A Saudi businessman offered US$10 million to buy the shoes thrown by al-Zaidi. There were also calls from throughout the Middle East to place the shoes in an Iraqi museum. The shoe, Ducati Model 271, first renamed "The Bush Shoe" and later "The Bye-Bye Bush Shoe", is manufactured by the Baydan Shoe Company in Istanbul. However, a producer in Lebanon suggested that it might have made them instead. Many shoes in Iraq are also made in China. Even so, al-Zaidi's brother insisted that the shoes were made in Baghdad by a highly reputable firm named Alaa Haddad. On 18 December 2008, Iraqi and American security agents looking for explosives examined and then destroyed the shoes.
A book called The Last Salute to President Bush was written about the event.
Mahesh Bhatt produced a play entitled The Last Salute, directed by Indian director Arvind Gaur and starring Imran Zahid. It was written by Rajesh Kumar and based on Muntadhar al-Zaidi's book. Pooja Bhatt and Mahesh Bhatt announced the making of a film based on the play. "Bush-Maliki News Conference. Baghdad, December 2008", a drawing by Dmitry Borshch, has been exhibited at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, DePaul University, Brecht Forum and is included in the Catalog of American Portraits, maintained by the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.