Iraq

A surprise visit by president Bush to Iraq is overshadowed by a pair of shoes thrown at him during news conference. An angry Iraqi television journalist stood up and shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," before hurling a shoe at Bush which narrowly missed him. With his second shoe, which the president also managed to dodge, the man said: "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq." The man was once kidnapped by a militia and beaten up, and lost some of his relatives in this war. He was quickly wrestled to the floor by security guards.

During the trip, president Bush and Iraqi PM signed the new security agreement between both countries. The pact include calls for US troops to leave Iraq in 2011 - eight years after the 2003 invasion that has in part defined Bush presidency. More than 4,200 US troops and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians and security personnel have been killed since the invasion in 2003. There are currently about 149,000 US soldiers in Iraq.

'shock n Awe Iraqi Way'

Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday to demand the release of a reporter who threw his shoes at President Bush, as Arabs across many parts of the Middle East hailed the journalist as a hero and praised his insult as a proper send-off to the unpopular U.S. president. Showing the sole of your shoe to someone in the Arab world is a sign of extreme disrespect, and throwing your shoes is even worse.

"Iraqi should considers Sunday as the international day for shoes," said a joking text message circulating around the Saudi capital Riyadh. Palestinian journalists in the West Bank town of Ramallah joked about who would be brave enough to toss their shoes at Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, another U.S. official widely disliked in the region. Some iraqi even joked that he should be charged for assaulting a foreign dignitary with extra sentencing for missing his target if convicted; but others think he should be awarded with a medal of bravery by international journalism society.