Where was the secret service ?

[HRTV]

If this had a been a gun Bush might have been in serious trouble.

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[HRTV]

You wish Dan- FUNNY STUFF!

They will hang that guy, there is the difference between them and us.

No doubt the trial will take place in the alley, still Bush is lucky that guy didn't have something else up his sleeve.

[Kev43V]

Dan i think it is much easier to get a shoe past the secret service than a gun.
just think if there are 100 people in the room there should be 200 shoes

[22W]

"Honestly, who throws a shoe?" -Austin Powers

[ricochet112]

"Honestly, who throws a shoe?" -Austin Powers

My mom used to, I got good at dodging

Sends a message of what the Iraqi's think of the US

[Kev43V]

My brother threw a cowboy boot at me when we were kids... I ducked.. it hit me in the nose.

[John Howe]

They SHOULD hang that guy!!! And then have a big celebration honoring the shoe thrower.

[Wayne mtl qc]

The guy flunked out of milita camp,he thought they called for a shoeiside bomber.

[chicagopaul]

"All I can report is that it's a size 10."

Ya know, only real life can bring you this kinda stuff. There is NO WAY you can write it!

[14J]

Whether you like the guy or not you have to admire his cat like reflexes

[B Walker]

in perspective

I lived in the Middle East in the late 70's early 80's (Kuwait). I went back for the first gulf war.

Using a shoe like this seems silly and strange to us, but in their culture its a huge insult. An insult so large there is probably no Western equivalent.

From the Crikey Clarifier http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20...-throwing.html

So what is the significance of this, despite the obvious reticence anyone would have by being hit by a shoe? There are two elements that make the shoe, and hitting someone with a shoe, a particularly significant statement in Arab and Middle Eastern culture. The first has its basis in religion and the second in cultural custom, although the two are inter-related.

Not limited to just Arab Muslim culture, but Middle Eastern religious culture generally (Jewish, Christian and Muslim), reference to someone or assault of someone with a shoe carries symbolic value in terms of Old Testament tradition. For instance, Psalms 60:10 ("Moab is my washpot, over Edom will I cast out my shoe...") reveals that assault with a shoe is a traditional defamatory gesture for one's enemies (Moab and Edom were both enemies of Judah).

In more strictly cultural terms, the shoe is representative of the foot, the lowest part of the human body. It is a sign of respect in Arab culture (and, many other cultures) that one does not show the sole of one's foot or shoe to another. To do so can be taken as a sign that you consider that person of being beneath you. This is analogous to the practice in many cultures of leaving your shoes outside before entering a home or religious/sacred place.

The insult of the shoe can also be seen through some rather creative forms of verbal insult. For instance, whether at a football game, driving through the streets of Beirut or Cairo, or in the rather entertaining television debates on regional satellite TV, using phrases such as inta kundara (you are a shoe) or ibn al-kundara (son of a shoe) sit at the high end of insults, and are not to be taken lightly (i.e. don't say it unless you really mean it, and are ready for a reaction).

Interestingly, someone assualted in this way is expected to fight to the death. Because Bush did not fight, he is most likely seen as weak and humiliated.

Bush handled the situation perfectly, from a western perspective, but certainly lost standing in the middle east.

BW

[dcrummett]

Then, I suppose, "a boot in the ass" is not the way to handle Islamic troublemakers?

Dan
O-49

[ryan_4z]

My mom used to, I got good at dodging

Sends a message of what the Iraqi's think of the US

No, it sends a message about what that Iraqi man thinks of George Bush.

[B Walker]

All of Saddam's 90+ palaces have a mosaic tile pattern of a picture of G.Bush Sr. inlaid in their entrances so people coming and going have to walk over his picture to enter or leave.

Again, considered a huge insult.

BW

[spunky64w]

B Walker-Too True

Back in the Middle Ages there were laws forbidding any Muslim from serving any non-Muslim in job where touching the non-Muslim's feet or shoes was part of the job-description. And today if you were to put your feet up on a table in this culture, it would be a grave mistake indeed. Interesting to note, Asian cultures, in general, also view the feet or one's shoes as extremely dirty and will be highly offended if you point your foot at them.

Part of the shoes' dirty reputation comes from ye olden days (and in some places, not so olden days) before organised waste management, when garbage was just left in the streets. Think of it in these terms, those shoes walk all over those dirty, at times rancid streets. It's not just the sweat and stink from YOUR foot, its also everything that shoe has walked in. It's an insult that can be equated with telling someone they are sub-human.