The News Hub

On December 27th, Israeli air strikes targeted police stations in Gaza killing over 200 people and injuring hundreds more.

Egypt has opened the Rafah crossing at its border with Gaza to receive wounded Palestinians. The Egyptian government's cooperation with Israel's blockade of Gaza has been very unpopular among Egyptians and Hamas has suggested that ending such cooperation could be a main focus of its response. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Saturday: "The simplest response to the massacre today is to reopen Rafah crossing once and for all. I tell our Arab brothers that the simplest response to the massacre is to end the siege." Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal called on Saturday for Palestinians to wage a new intifada against Israel, including a return to suicide missions.

Protests against the Israeli bombing and invasion are taking place across the Middle-East and Palestine. In Tel-Aviv Hundreds of Arabs and Jews took to the streets to protest the massacre in Gaza yelling “no one can tell us that this massacre is suppose to protect us.” The Israeli police attacked the protesters and six people were detained. The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, an umbrella group of Arab organizations, declared a national strike and a mourning day in the Arab sector beginning Sunday morning.

On Sunday December 28th, a San Francisco protest will take place at Powell and Market at 12pm and on Monday December 29th there will be a protest at Feinstein's Office (Montgomery and Market) at 5pm. On Tuesday December 30th there will be a protest at the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco at 5pm, as part of a National Day of Action against the attacks on Gaza.

Source http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/12/27/18556550.php

Dubai’s Top 8 Shopping Malls

Dubai Festival City
The landmark 2.8 million square foot urban retail resort combining Festival Waterfront Centre and Festival Marina forms the epicentre of Dubai Festival City and is shaping itself to be one of UAE's most exciting retail, dining and leisure destinations.

The retail resort has close to 600 shops, including 25 flagship and anchor shops – the largest collective number in the Middle East – as well as many new-to-market specialty boutiques and international brands. There will be over 100 international restaurants, bistros and cafés throughout the resort including 40 Al fresco dining venues along the water.

Deira City Centre
While other shopping centres are still trying to carve out a niche amid Dubai's crowded shopping scene, the Deira City Centre has stuck to its tried and trusted eclectism. From a postcard to a Persian carpet and from Massimo Dutti to Mexx, you can buy anything here. The jewellery and textile courts as well as the Arabian Treasures for local furniture and textile courts are a big attraction. If you are hunting for designer labels, you should head for the Bin Hendi Avenue and for gadget gurus, please look out for electronics goods on the ground floor. Kids have their own magic planet and is well known for all taxi drivers and many hotels provide shuttle buses straight to the door.

BurJuman
Renowned in the city for its blend of high-street names and designer brands BurJuman will help you give a complete makeover from clothes, to shoes, makeup and perfumes, accessories. Having undergone massive renovation, it's a slick and stylish mall –thanks to the Saks Fifth Avenue the legendary New York department Store. Prada, Ralph Lauren and Paul Smith is too high, then you can try Zara, Mango and Next. There are plenty of options in homeware, jewellery and entertainment. There are coffee shops galore where you can spend a leisurely evening or slump after sightseeing at the creek. Specialised play areas and the food court is particularly effective.

Madinat Jumeirah
It is the recreation of a traditional Middle Eastern marketplace. Lining its long alleyways, you'll find the largest selection of specialty shops with a wide range of art and photography, among them the outstanding Gallery One. Elsewhere there is an emphasis on the more unusual brands like Tommy Bahamas, Celine Fashion, once you are done with shopping, it's the Madinat's range of impressive waterfront bars and restaurants that are taking the strain.

Ibn Batuta Mall
It's huge with six pavilions and you need to go through a navigated guided tour. It's part shopping, part history lesson, part scientific exhibit, part food. Each court is themed on a pattern or a region that was visited by Ibn Batuta, a 14th century Arabic traveller. You can scour through the Egypt Court for a new pair of Adidas trainers, look into the India Pavilion with a Daniel Hechter shirt and then settle down for a three courses dinner at the China court. Andalusia will help you seek your life's essentials while Tunisia will help to keep the kids occupied. And that's only for starters

Wafi City
The Egyptian Pyramid-themed Wafi has exclusivity written on every wall and painted glass décor. Inspired by the great

pyramids of Egypt, Raffles Hotel, Dubai's latest attraction radiates an opulent blend of Middle Eastern and Asian decor. Under the apex of the pyramid, 11 distinctive restaurants and bars feature culinary delights from all over the world. For successful meetings and events, Raffles Dubai offers a choice of 11 private rooms with state-of-the-art audio visual equipment and the latest wireless technology. The one-hectare masterpiece Raffles Sky Garden is Dubai's most luxurious venue for outdoor celebrations and events.

A wide range of jewellery and couture awaits shoppers at the Wafi City, Versace, Nicole, Farhi and Tag Hueuer, to name a few. For more down-to-earth goods, the large section of the Mark's and Spencer should not disappoint. It is part of the bigger, Wafi City complex and it is significant : it is good for kids and so is the Encounter Zone.

Mall of the Emirates
Here you can shop for a brand new shoe from the ‘Walking Society', enjoy the latest Hollywood blockbuster, enjoy a mouth-watering meal with family and friends, enjoy an exhilarating ride on the brand new Magic Planet, slalom down a real ski slope inside the world's first indoor snow dome and shop from myriad brands from around 400 retail outlets. Some top brands include River Island, Debenhams, Harvey Nichols, Harvey Nichols, Zara and the Paris Gallery

Mercato
Mercato and its Renaissance style architecture is hard to miss. With over 90 restaurants, cafes and shops, it is one of the biggest malls in Jumeirah. Spinneys, Home Centre and Virgin Megastore are some of the big players here, Armani, Hugo Boss, Top Shop Susan Walpole that sells silk paintings and the Pride of Kashmir constitute some of the rest. There is also the Barbie Avenue, a whole shop dedicated to Barbie dolls. You can also relax at the Fiesta Café.

Source: Go Dubai

Barack Obama, the US president-elect, has signalled climate change and genetic research will be among his top priorities when he takes office in January.

Obama named four key members in his administration on Saturday to help drive the campaign.

Leading his list of nominees is John Holdren, who would become director of the White House office of science and technology policy and co-chairman of the president's council of advisers on science and technology.

Holdren, a professor of environmental policy at Harvard University, led the Pugwash Conferences on science and world affairs, an international organisation of prominent scientists that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995.

Holdren is not new to Washington, having served as science and technology adviser to then president Bill Clinton in the 1990s.

Obama called Holdren "one of the most passionate and persistent voices of our time about the growing threat of climate change".

Genetic research priority

Underscoring the importance of genetic research, Obama named Eric Lander and Harold Varmus as co-chairmen of the council of advisers alongside Holdren.

Lander is founding director of the Broad Institute, which played a leading role in the Human Genome Project which in 2003 succeeded in mapping the location of about 20,500 genes on the 23 pairs of human chromosomes.

Lander and his colleagues are using these findings to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying the basis of human disease, a field that could hold the key to curing many incurable diseases, Obama aides said.

Varmus, a co-recipient of a 1989 Nobel prize for studies of the genetic basis of cancer, has been serving as president and chief executive of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York since January 2000.

Obama expressed confidence that together the two men will "remake" the "group into a vigorous external advisory council" that will shape his thinking on scientific aspects of his policies.

Radio address

In a weekly radio address, Obama said: "It's time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America's place as the world leader in science and technology.

"Today, more than ever before, science holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation."

From landing on the moon, to sequencing the human genome, to inventing the Internet, America has been the first to cross that new frontier, he said.

Obama said that government had played an important role in encouraging those breakthroughs and could do so in the future.

Commenting on Obama's science and climate appointments, Todd Kent, a professor of political science at Texas University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera: "He doesn't want the continual focus on the economy [which is in recession]. I think he chose a Saturday address to focus on something else. One is policy and one is politics.

"President Bush used stem cell research and and his anti-abortion stance to really keep the right wing of his [Republican] party in check, and I think what Obama is going to do is to use environment issues to keep the left wing of his [Democratic] party in check."

Article Source http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/12/20081220142419153305.html

n Iraqi journalist arrested after throwing his shoes at George Bush, the US president, has reportedly sent a letter to the Iraqi prime minister to apologise for the incident and seek a pardon.

A spokesman for Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, said on Thursday that Muntazer al-Zaidi had acknowledged his shoe throwing during a news conference in Baghdad as "an ugly act".

Yasin Majeed, al-Maliki's media adviser, told the Reuters news agency that "al-Zaidi said in his letter that his big ugly act cannot be excused".

According to Majeed, al-Zaidi asked the prime minister to recall the kindness al-Maliki showed him during a 2005 interview when he invited the journalist to his home.

"I appeal to your fatherly feelings to forgive me," al-Zaidi was quoted as saying by Majeed.

However, Dhargham al-Zaidi, the journalist's brother, questioned whether the statement was genuine.

And an Iraqi judge said on Friday that al-Zaidi was beaten and had bruises on his face and around his eyes.

Dhia al-Kinani, the magistrate investigating the shoe-throwing incident, said the court has opened an investigation into the alleged beating.

Instant fame

Al-Zaidi shot to instant fame when he called Bush a "dog" in Arabic at a joint news conference with al-Maliki in Baghdad on Sunday and threw both his shoes at Bush in a gesture that is a deep insult in Arab culture.

His whereabouts remained unknown four days after he became a hero to those who blame the American president for the tens of thousands of Iraqi deaths that followed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

His family says he suffered a broken arm and other severe injuries after he was tackled by Iraqi security officers and US secret service agents and dragged away struggling and screaming.

His family says he is in a hospital in Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone.

On Tuesday, al-Zaidi was brought before an investigatory judge and admitted to committing "aggression against a president", a crime that carries a 15-year prison sentence, judicial officials said.

He could face trial soon on the charge.

Vocal support

Al-Zaidi has received vocal support from fellow Iraqis who have demanded his release, and similar support was shown from Bethlehem to Montreal on Thursday.

In Bethlehem's Manger Square, in the West Bank, several dozen Palestinian journalists took off their shoes to protest against al-Zaidi's detention and carried signs saying "Bush deserved it".

And in the Canadian city of Montreal, Block the Empire, an anti-war protest group that regularly criticises Bush's foreign policy, invited Canadians to hurl their footwear at the US consulate in the city on Saturday in solidarity with al-Zaidi.

Article Source http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/200812182353218656.html

Thousands of Iraqis have demonstrated in Baghdad's Sadr City in support of a journalist being held in custody after throwing his shoes at George Bush, the US president.

Muntazer al-Zeidi was detained for what the Iraqi government on Monday said was a "barbaric and ignominious act" during a news conference the previous day.

The outgoing US leader, who was making a surprise visit to Baghdad, had just told reporters that while the war in Iraq was not over "it is decisively on its way to being won," when al-Zeidi got to his feet and hurled abuse - and his footwear - at Bush.

Bush, who had been giving a joint press statement with Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, ducked behind a podium as the shoes narrowly missed his head.

"Millions of Iraqis or rather millions of the people of the world wish to do what Muntadhar did," Uday al-Zeidi, Mundathar's brother, said on Monday.
In Video

Bush caught in shoe attack

"Thank God he had the guts to do it and avenge the Iraqi people and the country from those who plunder it and have killed its people."

Al-Baghdadiya television, his employer, has demanded his release after Yasin Majeed, the prime minister's media adviser, said al-Zeidi would be tried on charges of insulting the state.

An Iraqi lawyer told the AFP news agency that Zeidi risked a miminum of two years in prison if he is prosecuted for insulting a visiting head of state.

Freedom of expression


On Monday, al-Baghdadiya suspended its normal programming and played messages of support from across the Arab world.

A presenter read out a statement calling for his release, "in accordance with the democratic era and the freedom of expression that Iraqis were promised by US authorities".

Iraqis have hailed
Zeidi's actions [AFP]
It said that any harsh measures taken against the reporter would be reminders of the "dictatorial era" that Washington said its forces had invaded Iraq to end.

Demonstrations also took place in the southern city of Basra and Najaf, where some people threw shoes at a US convoy.

Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam Hussein's former lawyer, said he was forming a team to defend al-Zeidi and that around 200 lawyers, including Americans, had offered their services for free.

"It was the least thing for an Iraqi to do to Bush, the tyrant criminal who has killed two million people in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said.

"Our defence of Zeidi will be based on the fact that the United States is occupying Iraq, and resistance is legitimate by all means, including shoes."

In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt and the incident is likely to serve as a lasting reminder of the widespread opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq - the conflict which has come to define Bush's presidency.

"Throwing the shoes at Bush was the best goodbye kiss ever ... it expresses how Iraqis and other Arabs hate Bush," Musa Barhoumeh, editor of Jordan's independent Al-Gahd newspaper, wrote.

But support has not been entirely universal and some Iraqis believe al-Zeidi crossed the line.

"I deem it unnecessary. This thing is unjustifiable. It is an incorrect style. We are not violent. One can voice his opinion in other ways," one Baghdad resident said.

Robert Wood, a US state department spokesman, dismissed the incident saying that al-Zeidi was "trying to get attention for himself" and had ignored Washington's successes in Iraq.

"This was one incident and one individual's views, but if you look at the direction we are heading in Iraq now, it's a very, very positive direction and we hope to see that continue," he said.

Bush's visit to the Iraqi capital came just 37 days before he hands the presidency over to Barack Obama, who has vowed to withdraw troops from Iraq.

Shoe attack mars Bush's Iraq visit

The shoe-throwing incident happened as Bush discussed falling levels of violence in Iraq [AP]

George Bush, the US president, has had a pair of shoes hurled at him at a press conference during his last surprise visit to Iraq before leaving office in January.

An Iraqi reporter called Bush "a dog" and shouted out "this is the end" at Sunday's news conference in Baghdad, before throwing his shoes at the US leader.

Bush, who had been giving a joint press statement with Nuri Al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, ducked behind a podium as the shoes narrowly missed his head.

He was reported to be unhurt after the attack by Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadiya television, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The outgoing US leader had just told reporters that while the war in Iraq was not over "it is decisively on its way to being won," when al-Zeidi got to his feet and hurled abuse - and his footwear - at the US president.

Sign of contempt

In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt.

In Video

Bush caught in shoe attack

The incident will serve as a vivid reminder of the widespread opposition to the US-led invasion of, and subsequent war in, Iraq - the conflict which has come to define Bush's presidency.

Bush shrugged off the incident and quipped: "All I can report is that it's a size 10."

Adil Shamoo, an Iraqi analyst at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC, told Al Jazeera: "I think we should go beyond the shoe and think about the fact that the US should respect Iraq's sovereignty in order to regain respect of the Iraqi people and the Arab world.

"I think Bush has increased terrorism against the United States and instablity in the Middle East because of his policies."

The US president was in Baghad for unannounced talks on the pact between Iraq and Washington that will see American troops leave Iraq by 2011.

Al-Maliki applauded security gains in Iraq and said that two years ago "such an agreement seemed impossible".

Bush's visit to the Iraqi capital came just 37 days before he hands the presidency over to Barak Obama, who has vowed to withdraw troops from Iraq.

article source http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/2008121419453773379.html

President Bush's hopes for a triumphant last visit to Iraq were thwarted Sunday by a shoe-throwing, epithet-yelling Arab journalist, whose angry gesture showed the same contempt for the American president that Iraqis displayed for dictator Saddam Hussein more than five years ago.

Mr. Bush intended his final trip to Iraq to symbolize gains in the country that he and his backers increasingly feel vindicate him on the issue that has defined his presidency and served as the basis for much of the criticism against him.

Instead, the trip took a left turn into the absurd, as an Arab TV journalist stood and hurled his shoes at the president during a press conference, while also shouting curses at him in Arabic.

See related story: Bush concludes Iraq-Afghan farewell tour

"This is a gift from the Iraqis, this is the farewell kiss, you dog," yelled Muntazer al-Zaidi, from the Cairo-based Al-Baghdadia channel, as he threw his first shoe at Mr. Bush from roughly 10 feet away.

The president ducked and narrowly avoided being hit by the shoe, only to see Mr. al-Zaidi winding up to throw his second shoe.

"This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq," Mr. al-Zaidi yelled before being tackled by security guards and hustled from the room, according to wire service reports.

Throwing shoes is an act of extreme disrespect in the Middle East. When U.S. troops and Iraqis pulled down a statue of dictator Saddam Hussein during the initial U.S. invasion of 2003, a group of Iraqis hit the statue's head and face with their shoes.

After Mr. al-Zaidi had been restrained, a few Iraqi journalists stood to apologize to Mr. Bush, according to reports from the scene.

"Thanks for apologizing on behalf of the Iraqi people. It doesn't bother me," Mr. Bush said, and then cracked a joke that lightened the tense atmosphere in the room.

"If you want the facts, it was a size 10 shoe that he threw," he said.

Mr. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki then continued with the press conference, although instead of taking two questions each they both took only one.

In response to a U.S. reporter's question about the shoe incident, Mr. Bush said he "didn't feel the least bit threatened by it."

Mr. Bush's surprise trip to Iraq was the fourth of his presidency, intended to show the increased stability of the country where his legacy likely will sink or swim in the years to come.

Mr. Bush departed under cloak of darkness Saturday night, taking with him staff and a small group of reporters who were told of the trip a mere 24 hours in advance and allowed to inform only a spouse and a superior, according to a pool report sent from Baghdad.

Air Force One arrived in Baghdad around 4 p.m. local time, eight hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, after a nearly 11-hour flight.

After the press conference the president then spoke to hundreds of cheering U.S. troops at the Al Faw palace inside the Green Zone.

He said his decision early in 2007 to "surge" 30,000 additional troops into Iraq at a time when the country was fast spiraling out of control, was "one of the greatest successes in the history of the United State military."

In an unprecedented move, the president was driven through the streets of Baghdad in an unmarked motorcade, the first time that he has been outside of military bases or the U.S.-controlled Green Zone, the White House said.

Artical Source http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/15/bush-visits-iraq-dodges-flying-shoes/

"This is a gift from the Iraqis. This is the farewell kiss, you dog," Muntadar al-Zeidi shouted in Arabic as he threw his shoe at Bush during a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The shoe narrowly missed the president's head.

The man, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, then pulled off his other shoe and chucked it, yelling, "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

Bush ducked again as al-Maliki put out his arm to block the shoe.

Secret Service and Iraqi security agents pounced on al-Zeidi. They wrestled him to the ground before dragging him from the room.

An Iraqi government official says al-Zeidi is being held for questioning by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's guards and is being tested for alcohol and drugs.

The official tells The Associated Press that Muntadar al-Zeidi is being interrogated over whether anybody paid him to throw his shoes at Bush.

Video showed a Secret Service agent rushing to the podium to move him out of harm's way, but Bush motioned to him that it was OK. The agent backed away.

Bush brushed off the incident. "It's like going to a political rally and have people yell at you. It's a way for people to draw attention," the president said.

To Iraqis, the incident represented a major insult to the U.S. president.

"In traditional Middle Eastern societies, it's very rude to show someone the bottom of your feet. Throwing a shoe at someone is very much a way of saying, 'You're beneath me. … I hold you in contempt,' " says Daniel Byman, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy.

The president described the incident as a "bizarre moment" and compared it to the disruption of his White House news conference with President Hu Jintao of China by a Falun Gong follower. He said it would be wrong to extrapolate from the single instance the feelings of the entire country.

"I don't think you can take one guy and say this represents a broad movement in Iraq," he said while on a flight to Afghanistan after his departure from Baghdad on Sunday night. "The war is not over," Bush said, but "it is decisively on its way to being won."

He said the other Iraqi journalists in the room "were very apologetic and said this doesn't represent the Iraqi people."

Nearly 150,000 U.S. servicemembers remain in Iraq, protecting the fragile democracy. More than 4,209 members of the U.S. military have died.

Al-Maliki, who spoke before the shoe incident, praised progress: "Today, Iraq is moving forward in every field."

Bush joked about the incident following his departure from Baghdad while en route to Afghanistan for a rally with U.S. and foreign troops. "I didn't know what the guy said, but I saw his sole," he said.

Bush told reporters he is normally pretty good at ducking at a news conference, as in ducking questions.

A reporter for CBS Radio responded, "So you aren't a lame duck," which prompted laughter.

Iraqis famously slapped their shoes on a toppled statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square here shortly after the city fell to coalition troops in April 2003.

In 2004, after four American contractors were ambushed and killed in Fallujah, insurgents hanged two corpses from a bridge as people flailed at them with shoes.

The president's father also had been the target of Iraqi disrespect. After the Persian Gulf War, Saddam installed a tile mosaic floor depicting George H.W. Bush in the lobby of Baghdad's Al-Rashid Hotel. Western diplomats, businessmen and journalists had no choice but to walk over the 41st president's image.

U.S. soldiers have since removed the mosaic from the hotel in the Green Zone. They still use the Al-Rashid.

Contributing: Peter Eisler in McLean, Va., and the Associated Press

KABUL (AFP) — It will likely rank as one of the more bizarre episodes of his presidency -- George W. Bush, surely one of the most protected leaders in history, ducking as two size 10 shoes hurtled in his direction.

The US president laughed off the incident during a surprise visit to Iraq, although it highlighted the lingering hostility still felt toward the man who ordered the 2003 invasion of the country.

"I didn't know what the guy said, but I saw his sole," Bush quipped later, not the first -- and he won't be the last -- to rack up a shoe pun.

The footwear belonged to an Iraqi television journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi, who jumped up as Bush was holding a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

"It is the farewell kiss, you dog!" he shouted, and threw the shoes before being wrestled to the ground by security guards and frogmarched out.

Bush lowered his head and the first shoe hit the American and Iraqi flags behind the two leaders. The second was off target.

Television footage of the incident quickly went round the world.

Soles of shoes are considered the ultimate insult in Arab culture -- after Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled in Baghdad in April 2003, many people beat its face with their soles.

"It doesn't bother me," Bush said of the incident. "If you want the facts, it was a size 10 shoe that he threw."

He later played down the incident. "I don't know what the guy's cause is... I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it."

The US leader then flew to Afghanistan, telling reporters en route that it reminded him of an incident in April 2006, when a heckler from the Falungong spiritual movement interrupted a formal arrival ceremony for Chinese President Hu Jintao in the grounds of the White House.

"Look, I mean it was just a bizarre moment," Bush said, "but I've had other bizarre moments in the presidency.

"I remember when Hu Jintao was here. Remember we had the big event?

"He's speaking, and all of a sudden I hear this noise, had no earthly idea what was taking place, but it was the Falungong woman screaming at the top of her lungs. It was kind of an odd moment."

So when the president landed in Kabul for talks and a news conference with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, the buzz among reporters was whether more footwear would fly.

It didn't.

One Afghan reporter jokingly urged a television colleague to follow suit -- "Why don't you do it here? Come on, do it."

Many journalists however had not heard or seen of the incident just a few hours earlier.

And while security is always tight at Karzai's palace, where visitors have to undergo a number of checks, no one's shoes were examined this time.

Meanwhile Al-Baghdadia, the television channel that employs Zaidi, urged authorities to release him immediately "in line with the democracy and freedom of expression that the American authorities promised the Iraqi people."

In Cairo, programming director Muzhir al-Khafaji described Zaidi as a "proud Arab and an open-minded man."

"We fear for his safety," he added.

Bush, who has strongly defended the 2003 invasion that triggered years of deadly insurgency and sectarian violence that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and more than 4,200 US troops, rejected suggestions Zaidi represented the Iraqi people as a whole.

"I don't think you can take one guy throwing shoes and say, this represents a broad movement in Iraq," he added.

"I don't think it would be accurate."

A journalist in Iraq sent his shoes flying on Bush and through this act he could show his unhappiness for the invasion on Iraq in which thousands of people had been killed without any fault lying on their part. The people had been having some problems with their ruler, but they were competent people to solve that problems and there was no need for an other country to invade their country and kill them just to throughout the rulers.

Invading other countries had been accepted in the past, but today when freedom and democracy are the orders of the day, people are competent to solve their own problems. Saddam was acceptable to the people of Iraq or they had got some differences with him was a question in Iraq and the people were struggling against the ruler. At no stage they had invited others to come and help them out. The invasion on Iraq was un-invited and the people who invaded and killed thousands innocent people are not accepted by the people and they shall never forgive and pardon these invaders. We have seen that the people of Iraq, through a journalist have shown their resentment and that fellow had thrown his shoes on Bush and thus expressed the thoughts of Iraqi people.

We must note that people of the world would not like this present system of imposing an indirect imperialism on any country and the big powers who have adopted this method must think over this and this incidence of throwing shoes on Bush should not be taken lightly and they should stop invading other countries just to show their power. People of each country should be allowed to solve their own problems through their own efforts.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/men's-issues-articles/flying-shoes-at-bush-687889.html