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CAROL
COSTELLO: You know, that was something else.
President Bush doing his best duck and cover during
his farewell tour of Iraq after an angry Iraqi
journalist threw his shoes at him during a news
conference. Mr. Bush had just finished remarks
hailing a new security agreement with Iraq when that
bizarre incident occurred. CNN's Michael Ware is live
in Baghdad to tell us more.
Good morning, Michael.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Yes, President Bush certainly showed the reflexes of
a boxer there with that cat-like maneuver as he
ducked. And obviously, we would all be thankful for
that.
Now, President Bush has left Iraq. He's actually
indeed visited Afghanistan since this incident. So --
but no matter how short the president's trip was, it
did include some of the most extraordinary scenes and
we'd like to show you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WARE (voice-over): This will be something few in Iraq
will ever forget, shoes hurled at the president by an
Iraqi TV correspondent who's quickly tackled. The
journalist from al-Baghdadia television called the
president a dog in Arabic and cried, "this is your
farewell." When calm was restored, President Bush
sought to brush the incident aside.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So
what if the guy threw a shoe at me?
WARE: And then tried to turn it into a positive.
BUSH: I don't know what the guy's cause is. But one
thing is for certain, he caused you to ask me a
question about it. I didn't feel the least bit
threatened by it. These journalists here were very
apologetic. They were, you know, they said this
doesn't represent the Iraqi people, but that's what
happens in free societies where people try to draw
attention to themselves.
WARE: For Iraqis, throwing shoes is the rudest of
insults, reserved for the likes of a statue of Saddam
Hussein or, somewhat prophetically, an effigy of
President Bush himself just weeks ago. But this trip,
the president's fourth and last, was meant to be a
farewell and a celebration, one to thank his
troops...
BUSH: I am honored to be at Camp Victory.
WARE: ...and to applaud a new deal with Baghdad
called SOFA, the Status of Forces Agreement,
governing a complete non-negotiable U.S. troop
withdrawal within three years. It's the beginning of
the end for the U.S. phase of this war, though the
president declared the war not yet over. And while
President Bush hails the agreement a success, some
American officials on the ground see it as far less.
To them, it's merely the best that could be gained
from a weak negotiating position.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WARE: And what we know now that as we speak this
morning, the Iraqi journalist who threw those shoes
at President Bush is still in Iraqi government
custody. Indeed, the prime minister's office here has
told us that he's being investigated for assaulting
the prime minister, arguing that given that Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki was there on the podium as
well, it's not easy to say who exactly he threw the
shoes at.
However, today, there's been quite some reaction to
the incident here in Baghdad. We had a large
demonstration in the Shia stronghold, the slums of
Sadr City. It became an outlet for anti-American
feeling with American flags being burned and calls
for this Iraqi journalist, himself a Shia, to be
released. However, that will have to be determined by
the Iraqi authorities and goodness knows which way
they are going to turn on that -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, I was going to ask you that. What
might happen to him in the end? Might he serve a long
sentence? What will happen?
WARE: Well, this is going to be a real test. I mean
President Bush tried to turn this to his advantage by
citing this in fact as an act of democracy, a sign of
the progress here, clearly an exercise of free
speech. I'm not sure how this Iraqi government sees
something like that. Obviously it's been noted by
many here that if this happened under Saddam it
wouldn't have happened under Saddam. The guy would
have quickly found himself dead.
However, here on the street, opinion's divided.
Whilst most Iraqis can relate to the statement, to
the message, some people support what he's done and
are treating him like a national hero, while others
say that just really wasn't good form to show to a
guest, Carol.
COSTELLO: Not good form at all. We'll be watching.
Michael Ware, live in Baghdad this morning. Thank
you.
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KIRAN
CHETRY: Authorities questioning the Iraqi journalist
who hurled shoes at President Bush during a press
conference in Baghdad. His arrest now sparking
protests in Baghdad, with thousands of people calling
for the reporter's release.
CNN's Michael Ware is live in Baghdad. Give us an
update now on why he's being held and what we know
about him.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, this is
an Iraqi Shia journalist who works for al-Baghdadia
Television Network, and he's from the area of Sadr
City here in the capital of Baghdad; a stronghold of
the rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr.
What we know as you can see from the pictures that
we're about to show you again -- and I suggest you
get used to seeing them. I think they're going to be
living with us -- that he rose up and threw his shoes
at the president in the middle of a press conference.
I suggest that these images are almost certainly
going to become icons of the war in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WARE (voice-over): This will be something few in Iraq
will ever forget, shoes hurled at the president by an
Iraqi TV correspondent who's quickly tackled. The
journalist from al-Baghdadia television called the
president a dog in Arabic and cried, "this is your
farewell." When calm was restored, President Bush
sought to brush the incident aside.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So
what if the guy threw a shoe at me?
WARE: And then tried to turn it into a positive.
BUSH: I don't know what the guy's cause is. But one
thing is for certain, he caused you to ask me a
question about it. I didn't feel the least bit
threatened by it. These journalists here were very
apologetic. They were, you know, they said this
doesn't represent the Iraqi people, but that's what
happens in free societies where people try to draw
attention to themselves.
WARE: For Iraqis, throwing shoes is the rudest of
insults, reserved for the likes of a statue of Saddam
Hussein or, somewhat prophetically, an effigy of
President Bush himself just weeks ago. But this trip,
the president's fourth and last, was meant to be a
farewell and a celebration, one to thank his
troops...
BUSH: I am honored to be at Camp Victory.
WARE: ...and to applaud a new deal with Baghdad
called SOFA, the Status of Forces Agreement,
governing a complete non-negotiable U.S. troop
withdrawal within three years. It's the beginning of
the end for the U.S. phase of this war, though the
president declared the war not yet over. And while
President Bush hails the agreement a success, some
American officials on the ground see it as far less.
To them, it's merely the best that could be gained
from a weak negotiating position.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WARE: And from that position we now see protests like
this and in the streets of the capital. The man who
started all of this, the Iraqi journalist, is still
in detention. He's in custody, according to the prime
minister's office, and is being investigated for
assaulting the prime minister of Iraq, who was
standing next to President Bush. Authorities saying
you can't say who he threw the shoe at.
As we said earlier, all of this prompted fiery
demonstrations today in Sadr City, that area of the
capital. And there we saw not only calls for the
journalist's release from detention, but we also saw
a tide of anti-Americanism rise to the surface with
the American flag being burned in Baghdad streets --
Kiran.
CHETRY: And you had an interesting note, what it
would be like if this happened under Saddam Hussein
or would this happen under Saddam Hussein?
WARE: Yeah, that's certainly one of the things that
Iraqis around me are asking, and indeed the Iraqi
community is divided right now. Whilst everyone
understands this journalist's message and frustration
-- that's without question -- the division lies in
whether they approve of his behavior.
Now, his television network is running almost endless
pleas for his release, with his picture on the
screen, and tickers with SMSs from hundreds of Iraqi
citizens supporting him and calling him a national
hero.
Other Iraqis say this is simply bad form, this is not
the way you treat a guest, even if you disagree with
him -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, Michael Ware for us in Baghdad,
thanks.