Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki tries to protect George W. Bush after an Iraqi journalists threw his shoes the US leader during a joint press conference in Baghdad. It will likely rank as one of the more bizarre episodes of his presidency -- George W. Bush, surely one of the most protected leaders in history, ducking as two size 10 shoes hurtled in his direction.
Soles of shoes are considered the ultimate insult in Arab culture -- after Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled in Baghdad in April 2003, many people beat its face with their soles.
The footwear belonged to an Iraqi television journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi, who jumped up as Bush was holding a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
"It is the farewell kiss, you dog!" he shouted, and threw the shoes before being wrestled to the ground by security guards and frogmarched out.
Bush lowered his head and the first shoe hit the American and Iraqi flags behind the two leaders. The second was off target.
"I didn't know what the guy said, but I saw his sole," Bush quipped later, not the first -- and he won't be the last -- to rack up a shoe pun.
Bush, who has strongly defended the 2003 invasion that triggered years of deadly insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and more than 4,200 US troops, rejected suggestions Zaidi represented the Iraqi people as a whole.
"I don't think you can take one guy throwing shoes and say, this represents a broad movement in our country," he added.
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