Bush shoeing incident

During an Iraqi press conference on December 14, 2008, Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw both of his shoes at then-United States President George W. Bush. Bush ducked, avoiding being hit by either of the shoes. Al-Zaidi was subsequently grabbed, kicked, and hurried out of the room by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's guards. Though effigies of many United States Presidents had long appeared with shoes on them all over the Middle East, it was not until then that shoeing had received widespread notability. Since then, there have been many other shoeing incidents on an international scale.

Shoes are considered unclean in the Arab World. Matthew Cassel of The Electronic Intifada in the context of the "Bush shoeing" incident has expressed the opinion that the Western media overplayed the phenomenon as being "Arab" in particular.

During a December 14, 2008, press conference at the prime minister's palace in Baghdad, Iraq, Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw both of his shoes at then-United States President George W. Bush. "This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog," yelled al-Zaidi in Arabic as he threw his first shoe towards Bush. "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq," he shouted as he threw his second shoe. Bush ducked twice to avoid being hit by the shoes. Prime Minister Maliki also attempted to catch one of the shoes to protect Bush. Al-Zaidi was pulled to the floor by another journalist, before being grabbed by Prime Minister Maliki's guards, kicked, and rushed out of the room. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino was hit in the face by a microphone boom knocked over by a presidential bodyguard, resulting in a black eye.

Bush said some Iraqi reporters had apologized to him. "Thanks for apologizing on behalf of the Iraqi people. It doesn't bother me." Bush said, "If you want the facts, it's a size 10 shoe that he threw."

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Wikipedia