Shoes thrown at Bush on Iraq trip

video from Conservative Oasis


comic from Stix Blog

Excerpts from CNN below

"A man identified as an Iraqi journalist threw shoes at -- but missed -- President Bush during a news conference Sunday evening in Baghdad, where Bush was making a farewell visit. ...

Bush ducked, and the shoes, flung one at a time, sailed past his head during the news conference with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in his palace in the heavily fortified Green Zone.

The shoe-thrower -- identified as Muntadhar al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist with Egypt-based al-Baghdadia television network -- could be heard yelling in Arabic: "This is a farewell ... you dog!" ...

"So what if the guy threw his shoe at me?" Bush told a reporter in response to a question about the incident.

"Let me talk about the guy throwing his shoe. It's one way to gain attention. It's like going to a political rally and having people yell at you. It's like driving down the street and having people not gesturing with all five fingers. ...

"These journalists here were very apologetic. They ... said this doesn't represent the Iraqi people, but that's what happens in free societies where people try to draw attention to themselves."

Bush then directed his comments to the security pact, which he and al-Maliki were preparing to sign, hailing it as "a major achievement" but cautioning that "there is more work to be done". ...

...Bush landed at Baghdad International Airport on Sunday and traveled by helicopter to meet with President Jalal Talabani and his two vice presidents at Talabani's palace outside the Green Zone.

It marked the first time he has been outside the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad without being on a military base.

The visit was Bush's fourth since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Afterward, Talabani praised his U.S. counterpart as a "great friend for the Iraqi people" and the man "who helped us to liberate our country and to reach this day, which we have democracy, human rights, and prosperity gradually in our country"."

Yes, indeed this is what happens in a free society. All people are free to speak (throwing shoes is an ugly way to do it), even those who despise those that fight for their freedoms and rights, still have these rights in a free society.

Better a thousandfold abuse of free speech than denial of free speech. The abuse dies in a day, but the denial slays the life of the people, and entombs the hope of the race.
~ Charles Bradlaugh, in Speeches

If we do not believe in freedom of speech for those we despise we do not believe in it at all.
~ Noam Chomsky

The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.
~ Hubert Humphrey

The sound of tireless voices is the price we pay for the right to hear the music of our own opinions.
~ Adlai Stevenson, speech, New York City, 28 August 1952

quotes from Freedom of Speech - select quotes


comic from Stix Blog