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Iraqi Shoe Tosser Enraged by Bush's Smile, Joking
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 19, 2009
Modified Feb 19, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 19, 2009
Modified Feb 19, 2009
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In a Baghdad courtroom, Iraqi reporter Muntadar al-Zaidi testified about what led him to toss his shoes at former President Bush during a press conference late last year. To sum it up, he was irritated by Bush's jokey manner: Zaidi said, "While he was talking I was looking at all his achievements in my mind. More than a million killed, the destruction and humiliation of mosques, violations against Iraqi women, attacking Iraqis every day and every hour. A whole people are saddened because of his policy, and he was talking with a smile on his face and he was joking with the prime minister and saying he was going to have dinner with him after the press conference... I was blind to anything else. I felt the blood of the innocent people bleeding from beneath his feet and he was smiling in that way... So I reacted to this feeling by throwing my shoes. I couldn't stop the reaction inside me . It was spontaneous." Zaidi faces up to two years in prison.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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