The Shoe and the Coup

"While I was away, Montadhar Al-Zaydi, the shoe thrower, emerged as a hero of the Arab Street. I’m sure that didn’t surprise anybody. We have a long history in my part of the world of glorifying jackasses. Arab and Iranian TV stations have gleefully replayed the clip, sometimes in slow motion, of an Iraqi reporter calling Bush a "dog" and throwing his shoes at him -- the Middle East's tastiest insults -- at a Baghdad news conference.

My favourite report presents Al Zaydi as a victim. “The young Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President George W. Bush had been incensed by a story he covered about an American soldier who used a copy of the Koran for target practice, according to his family.”"
IraqiPundit