Shoe monument for man who threw footwear at Bush

A statue built for Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi, who hurled his shoes at former U.S. President George W. Bush; is seen in Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) Baghdad, on 27 January 2009.

30 January 2008

TIKRIT, Iraq – An Iraqi town has unveiled a giant monument of a shoe in honor of the journalist who threw his footwear at former U.S. President George W. Bush.

The two-meter (six-foot) high statue, unveiled on Thursday in former dictator Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit, depicts a bronze-colored shoe, filled with a plastic shrub. "Muntazer: fasting until the sword breaks its fast with blood; silent until our mouths speak the truth," reads an inscription, in honor of journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi, who hurled his shoes at Bush and called him a "dog" at a news conference during the former president's final visit to Iraq.

Zaidi has been held in jail in Baghdad since the incident, facing charges of assaulting a visiting head of state.

Fatin Abdul Qader, head of an orphanage and children's organization in the town, said the one-and-a-half-tonne monument by artist Laith al-Amiri was titled "statue of glory and generosity."

"This statue is the least expression of our appreciation for Muntazer al-Zaidi, because Iraqi hearts were comforted by his throw," she said.

Update:
Iraq shoe-throwing monument removed

"Those orphans who helped the sculptor in building this monument were the victims of Bush's war," (orphanage director Faten Abdulqader) al-Naseri was quoted as saying. "The shoe monument is a gift to the next generation to remember the heroic action by the journalist."