Before hurling his leather-soled missiles, al-Zaidi certainly had Bush's true legacy in Iraq in mind, which includes hundreds of thousands of dead and "disappeared", over 4 million internally and externally displaced, 70% unemployment, a lack of electricity, a lack of drinking water, a cholera epidemic, the balkanization of Baghdad - a shabby, dangerous collection of Sunni and Shi'ite ghettos separated by high blast walls - and the horrendously incompetent kleptocracy that calls itself the Iraqi parliament,says Pepe Escobar
The young journalist who took on Bush has become a unifying Iraqi symbol, a national hero,says Sami Ramadani
IFJ Backs Calls for Release of Journalist in Shoes Protest
The International Federation of Journalists says the reporter who threw shoes at United States President George Bush over America's role in Iraq should be set free. His protest, says the IFJ, reflected deep anger at the treatment of Iraqi civilians during the US occupation over the past four years of which journalists have been major victims.