Across Mideast, Arabs hail shoe-hurling journalist

[ProSense]

Across Mideast, Arabs hail shoe-hurling journalist

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and OMAR SINAN, Associated Press Writers

BAGHDAD – Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday to demand the release of a reporter who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush, as Arabs across many parts of the Middle East hailed the journalist as a hero and praised his insult as a proper send-off to the unpopular U.S. president.

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Showing the sole of your shoe to someone in the Arab world is a sign of extreme disrespect, and throwing your shoes is even worse.

Newspapers across the Arab world on Monday printed front-page photos of Bush ducking the flying shoes, and satellite TV stations repeatedly aired the incident, which provided fodder for jokes and was hailed by the president's many critics in the region.

"Iraq considers Sunday as the international day for shoes," said a joking text message circulating around the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Palestinian journalists in the West Bank town of Ramallah joked about who would be brave enough to toss their shoes at Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, another U.S. official widely disliked in the region.

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[uppityperson]

1. more...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gQ_qepPMldIrmehDuPIy1-Zlwi5w

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It is not known where Zaidi is currently being held.

"Al-Baghdadia television demands that the Iraqi authorities immediately release their stringer Muntazer al-Zaidi, in line with the democracy and freedom of expression that the American authorities promised the Iraqi people," it said in a statement. "Any measures against Muntazer will be considered the acts of a dictatorial regime."

Saddam Hussein's former lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said he was forming a team to defend Zaidi and that around 200 lawyers, including Americans, had offered their services for free.

"It was the least thing for an Iraqi to do to Bush, the tyrant criminal who has killed two million people in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Dulaimi.
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In Cairo, Muzhir al-Khafaji, programming director for the television channel, described Zaidi as a "proud Arab and an open-minded man," saying he had worked at Al-Baghdadia for three years. "We fear for his safety," he told AFP, adding that Zaidi had been arrested twice before by the Americans and that there were fears that more of the station's 200 correspondents in Iraqi would be arrested....(more)

[Jennicut]

2. The International Day of Shoes...ROFL

:rofl:

[ProSense]

3. The Picture Seen Around the World

Morning Reaction: The Picture Seen Around the World

[ProSense]

4. Bush Dismisses Iraqi...Shoe Insult: I Don’t Think This ‘Represents A Broad Movement In Iraq’

Bush Dismisses Iraqi Journalist’s Shoe Insult: I Don’t Think This ‘Represents A Broad Movement In Iraq’