On December 14, 2008, President George W. Bush arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit and appeared alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at a tightly packed press conference.
The event was meant to focus on a new Status of Forces Agreement, a deal that would permit US troops to remain in Iraq. Instead, it produced a moment that was replayed around the globe.
Seated in the second row, roughly 12ft from the president, 29-year-old Al-Baghdadia TV reporter Muntadhar al-Zaidi passed a note to his cameraman that read: ‘It’s an honor to die as a martyr.’
Seconds later, he rose from his seat and, with a motion likened to a baseball pitcher throwing a fastball, launched one of his shoes at the President of the United States.
‘This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog!’ al-Zaidi shouted.
He then threw his second shoe, crying out: ‘This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.’
Muntadhar al-Zaidi, then a 29-year-old journalist for Al-Baghdadia TV, throws his shoe at President George W. Bush
Bush quickly ducked out of the path of both shoes, one of which struck the US flag behind him. In the chaos that followed, White House press secretary Dana Perino was left with bruising around her eye after being hit by a microphone boom.
Eighteen years on, Al-Zaidi, now 47, said he would throw the shoes again if he could.
‘I have no regrets about doing it, even if I could turn back time,’ he told Our News Outlet via WhatsApp from Baghdad.
He still feels as angry about the US occupation as he did then.
‘Bush claimed he would greet the Iraqi people with flowers, whereas I encountered force,’ he said. ‘It was based on false claims – that the Iraqi people would welcome the invader with flowers.
‘Then there were the actions committed in Iraq, the killing of innocents, the sectarianism, these factors also drove me to that decision [to throw the shoes].”
Muntadhar al-Zaidi, who now campaigns against corruption, told Our News Outlet he has no regrets about the shoe-throwing that inspired similar protests around the world
A 10ft-high sculpture representing one of Al-Zaidi’s shoes was erected in Tikrit
President Bush showed quick reactions to avoid the shoes thrown at him. He carried on with his press conference and confirmed that they were a ‘size 10’
President Bush ducks as a shoe hurtles his way
The shoes themselves were never returned, destroyed during the subsequent investigation.
Al-Zaidi cannot now remember exactly what they looked like.
‘I don’t recall it clearly but it was a shoe without a strap,’ he said.
Throwing shoes at someone is a deep insult in the Arab world and he became a hero to many opponents of the occupation.
A 10ft-high statue of a copper shoe was erected in Tikrit, until authorities ordered its removal. And a video game called ‘Sock and Awe,’ in which players could control Al-Zaidi’s aim, went global with more than 100 million shoes thrown.
He received offers of gifts, including virgin brides and camels, and one business magazine named him the third most powerful Arab in the world.
Indeed, the incident sparked copycat shoe-throwers across the globe, including in Sarajevo, China, India, Iran and Australia.
In London, Gaza protesters threw about 1,000 shoes at the gates of Downing Street while Gordon Brown was Prime Minister, chanting: ‘Shame on you, have my shoe.’
At Cambridge University, a German doctoral student, inspired by Al-Zaidi, flung his shoe on to a stage as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was speaking.
Martin Jahnke was later cleared of any offence as a district judge in Cambridge said there was insufficient evidence to prove that he behaved in a way likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
A policeman walks through shoes thrown by protesters onto the street in front of the entrance to Downing Street in London in the wake of the incident in Baghdad
A German jeweler recently produced a ring depicting the shoe-throwing
Shoes featured in subsequent protests in Iraq, including this one in Najaf
A boy holding a shoe with the then President’s name on the sole during a demonstration calling for the release of the Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi in Gaza City in December 2008
Al-Zaidi himself paid a high price for the initial shoe-flinging.
He was immediately wrestled to the ground and bundled out of the press conference, then charged under Article 23 of the Iraqi Judicial Law with ‘Attacking a visiting foreign president.’
At the hands of Iraqi guards, he was subjected to ‘three days of torture, electric shocks, beatings, flogging, and waterboarding,’ he told Our News Outlet.
Today, he still blames the government of Al-Maliki, who had been embarrassed by what he did.
At his trial, he told the Baghdad central criminal court: ‘Believe me, I didn’t see anything around me except Bush. I was blind to anything else. I felt the blood of the innocent people bleeding from beneath his feet and he was smiling in that way.’
He was initially sentenced to three years in prison for his actions, and shouted, ‘Long live Iraq!’
Ultimately, Al-Zaidi was released after nine months – minus a front tooth and with his nose never the same again after being broken.
Supporters slaughtered sheep in his honor and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez offered him citizenship and $100,000.
Iraqi reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi embraces his sister upon arrival at the Al-Baghdadya television station following his release from prison in Baghdad September 15, 2009.
A shoe is raised during a protest against the visit to Iraq of US President George W. Bush, in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday. Dec. 15, 2008
Instead, he went to Lebanon, and then Switzerland to set up an orphanage.
‘After I was released from detention, I had friends in Switzerland who helped me set up a humanitarian organization for victims of the US occupation in Iraq,’ he told Our News Outlet. ‘However, it was targeted and suppressed.’
Al-Zaidi, a Shia Muslim, was raised in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City and graduated from Baghdad University with a degree in communication.
After beginning as a reporter for Cairo-based Al-Baghdadia in 2005, he had survived being kidnapped in 2007.
In 2018, after returning from Switzerland, he stood for the Iraqi parliament. He was a candidate for Saeroun [Marching Towards Reform], an alliance between Muqtada al-Sadr, the influential Shia cleric, and various secular groups including the Iraqi Communist Party.
Al-Zaidi campaigned against corruption, vowing to ‘sweep away the thieves and corrupt people’ and prosecute ‘those who steal Iraqi money,’ as well as for greater protections for journalists.
He lost the election but has continued campaigning against corruption since then.
The Daily Mail’s front page after the launch of ‘Shock and Awe’ in Baghdad
Baghdad ablaze during the allied bombing on the first night of the ‘Shock and Awe’ operation, Iraq War, March 2003
In June, Iraqi authorities seized more than 800 pounds of gold and tens of millions of dollars in cash, and dozens of government officials were arrested.
The legacy of the shoe-throwing continues. Recently, a German jeweler released a silver ring that depicts Al-Zaidi’s shoe in mid flight.
Meanwhile, President Bush has never harbored any ill will, after handling the incident with aplomb. He confirmed the shoes were a ‘size 10’ and then finished the press conference.
‘I’ve seen a lot of weird things during my presidency, and this may rank up there as one of the weirdest,’ he said at the time.
