Two BBC Stories 5 Years Apart: Leaders and Shoes

[Are_grits_groceries]

A journalist, Muntazir al-Zaidi of Baghdadiya Television, aimed two shoes at W. during a news conference in Baghdad during which Bush attempted to justify his invasion of Iraq. Baghdadiya, based in Cairo, Egypt, supports the Sunni Arab insurgents fighting the US and the al-Maliki government. Al-Zaidi shouted "This is a farewell kiss!" as he launched his size tens, then kept shouting "Dog, dog!" (In Arabic, it would be ibn al-kalb or son of a dog, equivalent to English s.o.b.; for color you can say 'son of a thousand dogs!')

If you search shoes and Iraq, here is how google shows two BBC stories on December 14, five years apart (they came up together like this at the top of my search):

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Iraqis celebrate Saddam capture
Dec 14, 2003 ... women ululated and crowds beat pictures of Saddam with shoes. ... where the Saddam statue was toppled at the end of the war, ...
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3317637.stm - 46k

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Shoes thrown at Bush on Iraq trip
Dec 14, 2008 ... President Bush's farewell visit to Iraq is marred by an incident in which two shoes are thrown at him during a news conference.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7782422.stm

http://www.juancole.com/2008/12/two-bbc-stories-5-years-apart-leaders.html

There is ironic symmetry there.

[janx]

1. Yes, there certainly is! n/t

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Maybe not quite ironic - show throwing, stepping on, and showing bottoms of shoes/feet is an insult

A common insult in the mideast, much as, say, spitting on someone or flipping them off is here.