Sales boom for shoemaker who made footware hurled at Bush

[CatWoman]

Boom: Turkish shoemaker Ramazan Baydan, with his Model 271 footware above, has employed 100 extra staff to meet quadrupled orders of 300,000 pairs

A Turkish shoemaker who made the famous footwear that was hurled at President Bush during a visit to Baghdad is enjoying a massive sales boom, it emerged today.

Ramazan Baydan has recruited an extra 100 staff to meet orders for 300,000 pairs of the Model 271 brogues that were thrown by Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi.

His Istanbul-based firm normally sells about 75,000 pairs a year for about £28 each.

Around 120,000 orders were made from Iraq, where thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to demand Mr al-Zeidi's release.

Today it was claimed Mr al-Zeidi was tortured into writing a letter of apology to Mr Bush - and told his brother he would 'do it again'.

The TV reporter, who was previously twice arrested by American armed forces in Iraq, has deeply angered the country's new rulers.

He carried out the act in front of hundreds of reporters, photographers and cameramen at a press conference with the U.S. president and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Throwing shoes is an act of extreme disrespect in Arab cultures and the incident has become a potent symbol for opponents of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

‘This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people,’ Mr al-Zaidi yelled in Arabic as he threw his first shoe towards Mr Bush on December 14.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1099741/Sales-boom-shoemaker-footware-hurled-Bush.html?ITO=1490

[polichick]

1. LOL - good ol' American-style capitalism!

[boppers]

2. "Kick"

:P

[cloudbase]

3. Bush always said

he would help create new jobs.

(On edit: I see nosmokes beat me to this line in another thread.)

[Starbucks Anarchist]

4. Bush finally helps the economy, but it's not here.

[disndat]

5. What a wonderful Bush "Kiss off"

by the Iraqi people. The most possible impact on Bush and the crooked Iraqi leaders could have. I hope it becomes a big seller in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.

[TheCowsCameHome]

6. Model 271 has a nice ring to it.

We need to know the weight, range, velocity, recoil, etc. of these bad boys.