The Briefing Room
General Category => World News => Topic started by: TomSea on May 03, 2018, 04:53:10 pm
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EXCLUSIVE: Iraqi shoe-thrower promises to boot corruption out of politics as MP
Alex MacDonald
Muntazar al-Zaidi, journalist who threw his shoes at George Bush, tells MEE how he plans to stamp out sectarianism as he runs for parliament
(http://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_article_page/public/main-images/5ae9fb1efc7e938e5d8b457c_0.jpg)
Muntazir al-Zaidi at a book fair in Turkey (Facebook)
"This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog!"
The line was heard around the world, as TV stations broadcast Muntazar al-Zaidi hurling his footwear at then-US President George Bush, who was giving a news conference alongside Iraqi leader Nouri al-Maliki.
The prime minister's guards soon apprehended him and he eventually spent nine months in jail, before leaving Iraq in 2009. But as a symbolic act of defiance against the US occupation of Iraq, which saw hundreds of thousands killed and the country plunged into corruption and ethno-religious chaos, the shoe-throwing incident made Zaidi famous worldwide.
Read more (and video) at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/zaidi-shoes-2084205026 (http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/zaidi-shoes-2084205026)