The Japanese Protest Iraq’s Sixth Anniversary with Respect to Palestine

Japanese activists hold the State of Palestine flag in respect of the genuine inhabitants of Palestine, with further appreciation of the people of Palestine during a peace protest march in Tokyo, Japan (Nippon) on 20 March 2009; to mark the 6th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war.

Iraq on 20 March marks the sixth anniversary of the US-led imposed war that toppled US executed Iraqi Leader Saddam Hussein; but triggered an Iraqi resistance to occupation, with the US murderous Islamophobic rage with such atrocious atrocities as US genocide, occupation and oppression, to virtual type of slavery towards the Iraqi people and further violence of the same nature in Afghanistan.

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."