Iraqi artwork dedicated to shoe-Bush-basher

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Shoe of force _ sculpture in homage of Bush shoe thrower dedicated in Iraq

By Associated Press
10:06 AM CST, January 29, 2009

BAGHDAD (AP) " When an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at George W. Bush last month at a Baghdad press conference, the attack spawned a flood of Web quips, political satire and street rallies across the Arab world.

Now it's inspired a work of art.

A sofa-sized shoe statue was unveiled Thursday in Tikrit, the hometown of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Baghdad-based artist Laith al-Amari described his fiberglass-and-copper work as a homage to the pride of the Iraqi people.

The statue also has inscribed a poem honoring Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist. Al-Zeidi was charged with assaulting a foreign leader, but the trial was postponed after his lawyer sought to reduce the charges.

AP report

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@Walter Hinteler,

Perhaps a barrage of shoes into the Green Zone might persuade the marauding invaders to go home.

1 Reply

@JTT,

I agree! The sooner we get out of Iraq the more money we save on reconstruction. Oh wait, arnt you the one who said when we invaded Iraq we had an obligation to rebuild it. With their oil revenue I am not sure they even need us. If we leave, the politicians in Iraq might be forced to share oil revenue with the populace.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Life just gets too weird sometimes.

Reminds me of Brian's Holy Sandal.

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@rabel22,

Quote:

Oh wait, arnt you the one who said when we invaded Iraq we had an obligation to rebuild it.

Yup, supply the cash needed from the US treasury but don't kick that back to American contractors who'll just raise the prices astronomically which will end up boinking the US taxpayer once again.

A more important obligation is to send those responsible for the carnage to war crimes tribunals.

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I think Bush was expecting the Iraqis to erect a statue in his honor, but I don't think he was expecting this. Oh the irony.

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I think the shoe should be depicted lodged in Bush's face.

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@JTT,

Good luck with this ever happening. Can you see a politician takeing another politician to task for doing a bad job when they arnt running for office or trying to make political points. The democrates are not interested in taking crooked republican politicians to court because they can see a future where it might be done to them.

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@rabel22,

The president could set up an independent prosecutor or turn these war criminals over to the same type of international court that the USA thought was so great after WWII.

Surely the USA can figure out a method to enforce the rule of law. If it can't then it simply isn't a democracy, It's a banana republic.

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Quote:

Baghdad - A sculpture of an enormous shoe erected in honour of the Iraqi reporter who hurled his shoes at then-US president George W Bush in December, was taken down on Friday.
The huge bronze-coloured sculpture, made of fiberglass, was erected at an orphanage complex in the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit on Thursday.
The head of the Childhood organisation, which the orphanage belongs to, said that the Provincial Joint Coordination Centre told her to take the structure down immediately.
'I did take the shoe down immediately and destroyed it; and I did not ask why,' Shahah Daham, the head of the charity organization, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Assisted by children at the orphanage, Iraqi sculptor Laith al- Amiri erected a replica of one of the shoes Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi threw at Bush during the press conference he held with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad last month.
Throwing a shoe is a very insulting act in the Arab world. Al- Amiri insisted it was not a political work, but a 'source of pride for all Iraqis.'
The 5,000-dollar shoe, which children at the orphanage helped al- Amiri build in 15 days, is 2.5 meters long and 1.5 meters wide.
Al-Zaidi, who is in custody awaiting trial, is regarded by many Iraqis as a hero and demonstrators last month took to the streets across the Arab world calling for his release.
Although some people said that the shoe was removed because of the charges pending against al-Zaidi, others question the importance of erecting such a monument inside a children's facility.
'Children should be put away from any political-related issues. Since this is an orphanage, this monument can instil in children's heart things for which the time is not now,' Salaheddin deputy governor, Abdullah Jabara told dpa.
Tikrit, the capital of Salaheddin province, was the hometown of late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
© Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa

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@NickFun,

NickFun wrote:

I think the shoe should be depicted lodged in Bush's face.

I was thinking of a different place it should be lodged. Either way...

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Iraqi artwork dedicated to shoe-Bush-basher

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