Muntazar al-Zaidi Update: Shoe-Throwing Monument Unveiled (And Removed) in Iraq

Latest (Friday evening in Iraq): The sculpture has been removed after a request from the central government in Baghdad. Police visited the site to ensure the request was carried out. The provincial deputy governor said, "We will not allow anyone to use the government facilities and buildings for political motives."

Muntazar al-Zaidi, the journalist who threw his shoes at former President George W. Bush in December, is still languishing in an Iraqi jail, but his act hasn't been forgotten.

An 11-foot-high sculpture of one of the shoes has been erected at the Tikrit Orphanage. It was made by a local artist, assisted by the orphans. The orphanage director said:

Those orphans who helped the sculptor in building this monument were the victims of Bush's war....When the next generation sees the shoe monument, they will ask their parents about it. Then their parents will start talking about the hero Muntadhir al-Zaidi, who threw his shoe at George W. Bush during his unannounced farewell visit.

Comments

[Mike]

What a shame it was taken down a day later.

[coffee]

if the Iraqis use their democracy similarly to Americans, then they will re-construct the shoe sculpture after U.S. forces leave and make it twice as big as the first one

[don mac namara]

The " boot is not yet on the other foot"
Besides this wonderful artwork belongs just outside the GBW ranch in Texas.
If the artist , on the other hand were to advance the project he could usefully configure a mouth around the boot , as a reminder to the GWB foreign policy and deconstruction of the English language