BAGHDAD: Iraqi journalist Muntazer Al-Zaidi gained fame for throwing his shoes at former US President George W. Bush in a news conference to express his anger at the chaos and corruption that followed the US-led attack of Iraq in 2003. Muntazer Al-Zaidi said that he is still uncompromising.
“The same people who came twenty years ago with the occupier are still ruling in the country despite corruption and failures. The US knows very well that it brought in bogus politicians,” he told Reuters, recounting his acts back in 2008 during a media briefing in Baghdad.
George Bush, who was standing next to then Prime Minister of Iraq Nuri Al-Maliki, bowed to avoid the shoe that turned at him. Hurling shoes at someone is a very deep insult in the middle east.
Muntazer Al-Zaidi shouted before security personnel bundled him outside, “This is a farewell kiss from the people of Iraq, you dog!”.
Thank you https://t.co/O4HQxcrqlH
— Muntadhar al-Zaidi (@muntazer_zaidi) March 13, 2023
US President Bush and Iraqi journalist
George Bush had been strongly criticized across the Arab World for his decision to overthrow Saddam Hussein, an operation launched based on faulty American intelligence that Saddam Hussain had collected arms of mass destruction.
Bush brushed off the shoe-hurling incident at the time, adding: “It is like going to a political gathering and have people shout at you. It is a way for people to trap attention.”
Muntazer Al-Zaidi, who served 6 months in jail for assaulting a visiting head of state, left the country for Lebanon following his release but returned to Iraq to run for election in 2018 seeking to eradicate corruption, although his election attempt failed, Arab News Reported.
He said that he continued to fight against corruption and he has never regretted throwing his shoes.
He added, “This act stands as proof that one day a common man was capable of saying “no” to that arrogant person and to say that you (Bush) were wrong.”
