BAGHDAD — It gives fresh meaning to the phrase shooed away.
President George W. Bush ducked a pair of shoes hurled at his head — one shoe after the other — in the middle of a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Both shoes narrowly missed their target and thumped loudly against the wall behind the leaders.
“Don’t worry about it,” the president said as the room erupted into chaos.
Iraqi reporters started shouting what Bush later explained were apologies for the incident.
“So what if the guy threw a shoe at me?” Bush said, comparing the action to political protests in the United States.
“If you want the facts, it was a size 10,” he joked.
The shoe attack came as Bush and al-Maliki were about to shake hands. The assailant — later identified as television correspondent Muntadar al-Zeidi — leapt from his chair and hurled his footwear at the president, who was about 20 feet away.
“This is a farewell kiss, you dog,” he yelled in Arabic.
The crowd descended on al-Zeidi, who works for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt. He was wrestled to the ground by security officials and then hauled away, moaning as they departed the room. Later, a trail of fresh blood could be seen on the carpet, although the source was not known.
In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt. When U.S. Marines toppled Saddam Hussein’s statue on Firdos Square in 2003, the assembled crowd whacked it with their shoes
Al-Baghdadia’s Baghdad manager told the AP he had no idea what prompted his reporter to go on the attack.
“I am trying to reach Muntadar since the incident, but in vain,” said Fityan Mohammed. “His phone is switched off.”
The station issued a statement on the air tonight asking the Iraqi government to release al-Zeidi “to spare his life.”
“The station calls on journalists all over the world to express their solidarity for the release of al-Zeidi,” it said.
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ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — It sounded like something from a spy thriller.
With little advance notice, White House officials told 13 members of President George W. Bush’s press corps about his hush-hush trip to Baghdad, instructed them to pack their bags and swore them to secrecy.
The goal: keep Bush and his entourage safe on the trip to Iraq. Surprise is a favorite tactic of the Secret Service in a war zone.
To keep other reporters out of the loop, the White House put out false schedules detailing activities planned for Bush in Washington today.
Upon arriving in the dark at Andrews Air Force Base on Saturday night, all of the reporters’ belongings, except for one piece of reading material, were confiscated.
While the travelers embarked, Air Force One remained hidden inside the immaculate and heavily guarded hangar specially constructed to house the enormous 747s used by the president. The window shades were drawn for the entire flight.
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ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — Guess who?
In a rare move, President George W. Bush surprised the journalists joining him on the trip to Baghdad when he popped into Air Force One’s press cabin for a chat.
Bush arrived through an unmarked entrance at Andrews Air Force Base sporting his signature attempt at a disguise — a tan Windbreaker, casual black pants and a baseball cap marked with “43.” The number signifies that he is the nation’s 43rd president.
“Nobody knew who I was,” Bush joked about the outfit. “They thought I was a different president.”
Bush joked that the media assembled for his trip was “a weak group,” before heading back up to his part of the plane.
His sudden appearance in the press quarters was the only notice of his arrival for the trip.
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WASHINGTON — A Christian band that had expected to perform for President George W. Bush tonight in Washington did not mind that the show would go on without him.
To keep Bush’s trip a secret, the White House put out a false schedule that said he would attend the taping of Turner Network Television’s annual “Christmas in Washington” benefit concert at the National Building Museum.
Mark Hall, the lead singer of the band Casting Crowns, joked that he knew it all along.
“We were secretly a part of this whole thing. See, we’re the ruse for him to go on his mission. So I feel like, you know, a little Jack Bauer right now,” Hall said, referring to the counterterrorism agent on Fox TV drama “24.”
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