"A woman in the crowd shouted, “You hero!”"

and he is.

he should be honored .

They don't need to make a big deal of it, he need to apologize in the media to Bush and that's all.

Edan Stav, Israel
if this is to happen to your Israeli country men,..to where millions of civilians killed, orphanage kids, widows & displaced you wouldn't be dismissing his shoe gesture as "don't need to make a big deal of it".. would you??

Yes, he may not have displayed civilized behavior still, he is a folk hero and needs to be freed soon. I hope. The shoe bronze statue that was removed from the orphanage needs to travel to the US... exhibited in various museums across our country..have the proceeds support the widows and the orphans Bush's war produced...

Any curators out there?

hope

if a jew would have thrown a shoe at an arab leader, the arabs would have demanded the death penalty

as they do for the mohammed cartoons

have you ever seen the cartoons in the arab press about jews?

No? try to find them in the internet, you might be surprised at their violence, insult to the jewish religion and people

and please explain your comment "to where millions of civilians killed, "

it makes no sense

let's hear your opinion on that, Hope!!!

Dan,

you are wrong.... most Arabs would like to throw shoes at their own "Presidents" too. They are not democratically elected "Presidents".

There's a tennis tournament here today and part of tomorrow so have 1/2 a minute, but I hope he get's time served and a fine, nothing huge. It was frustration. Peace all!

dan perman,

drop the "s" = 1 million civilians killed. better?

Hope February 19th, 2009 1545 GMT

Edan Stav, Israel
if this is to happen to your Israeli country men,..to where millions of civilians killed, orphanage kids, widows & displaced you wouldn’t be dismissing his shoe gesture as “don’t need to make a big deal of it”.. would you??
************************************************************************

So, you think this guy should should spend 15 years in prison for assaulting a foreign head of state?? That's what can happen based upon the charges!

So, you agree that the Iraqi's should "make a big deal of it"??

That's the point of his comment!!!! --

Hope,

don't worry Dan does not know the difference between million and millions.

This journalist should be released, he killed no one! I'm a white Belgian citizen and like the half of the planet, I can understand the frustrations of the iraqui's !
First of all, this war is an illegal war, the G.W. Bush administration lied against the whole world (remember the masdestruction weapons)
2. The american government used torture and killed innocent civilian people
3. If america had not so much economical power, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney would be in Den Haag, Netherlands judged for warcrimes !

He was the most powerfull idiot/clown in history
So Mr. G.W. Bush deserved the shoes for all his mistakes he maid, its better to get insulted than getting hanged up or shot by a sniper, dont you agree ?

(dont use, racial arguments, jews, arabs, catholics, protestants etc. ; we're all human beens and the same, we shouldn't fight because of different religious views, by the way, don't forget that the existence of God, isnt proven yet, so maybe people are just fighting since ages for nothing )

What he did was assult, and not just that, but an assult on an elected leader of a country. That man should be tried and sentenced according to the laws of his country.

Maybe i should through a shoe at an Arab leader, because i dont like how they smile.

What a foolish man.

Sebastien,

I agree with you the journalist should be released... and I agree that Bush and Chaney both should be tried in the Haag for warcrimes next to their Israeli friends.

I ask. Where do we go from here? Is there hope? Can we turn the tide of fear and hate? . . .

Who are we????
Are we Iraqis? Are we Americans? Are we Afghans or Pakistani? Are we Russian? Are we Chinese? Are we any of thousands of people from a hundred countries that cannot stand to watch the daily parade of terror coming at us from all sides? Everyone is afraid, no one is secure.
There must be a way out. We must find a way to say “we” the free people of the world! Our governments are too rigid, to set in the traditional mindsets left over by the cold war to change fast enough to save us. Greed and lust for power are the enemies of the free people of the world.
Yes, the free people of the world. We are free in our mind and we must act soon, we must find a way to make our voices heard above the din of aggression. We must find a way to unite. We are Muslim, we are Hindu, we are Christian, and we are all denominations. We believe that everyone deserves respect! We are any nation or religious group, because we respect each other. We are everywhere. We can believe in who we want because we respect your choice and we respect you.
How can we make a difference? We must make our voices heard. We must find each other and make our voices louder. We must call to our leaders and tell them “We” must find a way! Everyone everywhere that wants to be a “We”.
And “We” can do it. It starts with the idea that “We” are the world.

There are different ways to express your feeling about certain situations. In this case a journalist threw a shoe at President Bush, which was a terrible thing to do. I know President Bush hasn't had success with the majority of his decision making. I believe everyone deserves respect, so I believe an apology should be kindly given and accepted.

He is a hero indeed and the minimum is to be released , its freedom of speech on its most glory facet on the Iraqi way, didn't Abraham started from UR, the cradle of civilization, why we shoudnt accept this model coming from the children and brothers of Ara like Muntazer al-Zaidi as a form of expression , he is a journalist.

Oh my god it's really a relief to see NO Bush, Muntazer you are a hero for many of us here and elsewhere.

It is damn if we do and damn if we don't!!! Next time the US won't step in, let the leader of that country keep on killing his people and putting them in jails, if they didn't obey him. That makes sense! Now that it has been brought to the attention of the court that this reporters crime should be insult instead of assault. Get him for both, now that it was mentioned. It don't really matter to me one way or the other. I didn't like Bush anyway. I suppose if an American reporter would have thrown a shoe at the Iraqi Leader, Iraqis would yell out, Kill him, Kill him. That would be ok, right? Just my opinion, everybody has one. Just taking my turn at it.

Debra,

For you its either don't do anything or Kill hundreds of thousands innocent people to get rid of one?.... I guess thats your mentality.... there is no middle of the road.... either to the far right or to the far left. I guess you are right... you are damned either way. I cannot agree with you more.

He ( shoe thrower) is just plain stupid period.

Professor,
Did anything good come out of the Americans invading Iraq? I think so whether you do or not. To each their own!

Professor, you didn't really answer my question! What would the Iraqi people do if an American reporter would have thrown a shoe at their leader? The Iraqi people would have been better off had the US soldiers not invaded Iraq? Tell me, I want to know! You live in the US and don't stand behind the US President in any way.

If an American, in a press conference, threw a shoe at an Arab King or President or whatever, he would probably get some horrible punishment. So? This is not tit and tat. This is just about frustration and being kind and knowing people. Kindness always makes its rounds. It was frustration. Let it go.

If it was my decision, which it is not, I would let the guy of the hook(so to speak). I was just trying to put it in perspective, turn things around, as to the mentality certain people might have good or bad. Depending on how you look at the situation one way or the other.

Debra,

Most of Arabs would like to throw shoes at their own dictators... so I do not think they would mind if any foreign journalist throwing one at any of them.

It looks like for you "the end justify the means".... to me it does not work.... even if something good came out of the US invasion to Iraq it was done on the corpses of hundreds of thousands innocent Iraqis... well and one dictator.... was it worth it?.... No. Its not worth it to kill one innocent civilian to get rid of one dictator. There were other ways to get rid of a dictator without killing hundreds of thousands civilians... and we would've gotten something good come out of it at the end.

Yes I live in the US and for your information the ultimate patriotism is to be critical of your President when he does something wrong otherwise we would become a nation of "yes" men.... and that is wrong becuase then we become robots and not human beings....