At hearing, shoe-thrower defends actions
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi journalist who became a folk hero in the Arab world by throwing shoes at President George W. Bush defended his conduct yesterday in court.
"I did not mean to kill the leader of the occupation forces," Muntadar al-Zaidi said, speaking from a wooden cage before a packed courtroom. "I was expressing what's inside of me and what's inside the Iraqi people"
Throwing his shoes at the leader of the free world was not, Zaidi argued, a crime.
Zaidi, 30, who is charged with assaulting a foreign head of state, posited that Bush's Dec. 14 trip to Baghdad was not an official visit by a foreign dignitary because he arrived in the country without prior notice and didn't leave the Green Zone, which was still under US control.
"I am charged now with attacking the prime minister's guest," he said, making his first public remarks since the incident. "We Arabs are famous for being generous with guests. But Bush and his soldiers have been here for six years. Guests should knock on the door. Those who come sneaking in are not guests."
Roughly an hour into the hearing, Presiding Judge Abdul Amir al-Rubaie announced that he would postpone the proceeding until March 12 to seek an opinion from the Iraqi government about whether Bush's swan song visit to Baghdad was, in fact, an "official" one.
Some attendees left the courtroom crying. But the scene was largely jubilant, as women in black abayas ululated triumphantly, their high-pitched shrieks reverberating in the courthouse lobby. 