Iraqi journalist, Muntadar al-Zaidi, showed excellent aim when he threw his shoes at US President George Bush in Baghdad yesterday.   I’d need hawkeye, like on the cricket on TV, to confirm it, but I’d say George would have copped at least one shoe fair in the face if he hadn’t have ducked out of the way.

al-Zaidi, an Iraqi television journalist, stood up and shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," before hurling a shoe at Mr Bush which narrowly missed him.  With his second shoe, he said: "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq."  He was then wrestled to the ground and taken away by security personnel.  Subsequent reports say he suffered some injuries, including a broken arm and ribs, but it is not clear if these happened during the struggle to restrain him, or later when in police custody.

Showing the soles of shoes to someone is a sign of contempt in Arab culture.  The sensitivity is related to the fact shoes are considered ritually unclean in the Muslim faith.

Of course, in the Arab world, al-Zaidi has become something of a hero for for expressing his anger at the Bush administration. In cafes and online chat rooms, people joked about the incident with glee, releasing years of frustration with U.S. policies. Thousands of Iraqis demonstrated in the streets demanding his release from Iraqi custody.