"This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog," he yelled in Arabic while chucking his footwear at Bush. "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq," he managed to get out as the second shoe flew, before then-prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's bodyguards tackled him.

"When I threw the shoe in the face of the criminal, George Bush, I wanted to express my rejection of his lies, his occupation of my country, my rejection of his killing my people," he would later say. "My rejection of his plundering the wealth of my country, and destroying its infrastructure. And casting out its sons into a diaspora."</s>The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during an infamous 2008 news conference is running for parliament in Iraq.

Muntadhar al-Zaidi gained fame when he hurled his shoes at Bush during a Baghdad news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Bush was not injured, while al-Zaidi was sentenced to three years in prison. He served nine months of the term before moving to Beirut, according to The Washington Post.

Now, al-Zaidi is back in Baghdad and running against corruption, according to posts on his Twitter account.

His Facebook page features photos of him campaigning.

Iraqis go to the polls on May 12.</s>Almost a decade after sparking an international diplomatic incident by throwing his shoes at former US President George W. Bush in Baghdad, Muntadhar al-Zaidi is planning a political career of his own.

The Iraqi journalist, now 39, is to stand for parliament in the forthcoming elections in Iraq — and has ambitions to become the country’s leader.

Al-Zaidi became a worldwide celebrity after throwing his shoes at Bush in protest at the US invasion during a news conference held in the Iraqi capital in December 2008.

Bush, who was making a farewell visit to the country at the time, avoided being hit by the shoes, but al-Zaidi was bundled to the ground and hustled out of the room by security officials.

While Bush flew home, al-Zaidi was sentenced to three years in prison, which was eventually reduced to just 12 months. He was released after nine months after being granted a conditional discharge.

Fast-forward to 2018 and Al-Zaidi is now a candidate in the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections on May 12.

Al-Zaidi has spent much of his time outside Iraq since being released from prison in 2009 but returned two months ago to take part in the elections after living in Beirut, Lebanon.

“As you know me from a long time ago, I will be supporting the oppressed people and be against oppressors,” he said in an online video.

Al-Zaidi is using his 2008 protest against Bush to gather support, posting the video of the incident to his Facebook campaign page.

The reporter called the shoe-throwing gesture — a traditional insult in Arab culture — a “farewell kiss” to a “dog” who launched the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The video shows Al-Zaidi shouting “You killed the Iraqis!” as security staff pinned him to the ground.

Bush ducked as the shoes sailed past his head.

“I don’t have any issue with America or Americans,” al-Zaidi told CNN on Wednesday.

“My only issue is with the former president George W. Bush. He occupied my country and he killed my people.

“If I become the prime minister of Iraq or the president then the first thing I will do is to ask the United States of America to officially apologize to all Iraqis, to compensate the victims and hold former president George W. Bush accountable.”</s>BAGHDAD (WASHINGTON POST) - Muntadhar al-Zaidi might be most famous for his shoes.

Back in 2008, the Iraqi journalist attended a Baghdad news conference with George W. Bush. The then-president was there to tout the successes of the US invasion.

Zaidi was not having it.

In quick succession, he chucked his two loafers at the president's head, shouting, "This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

Guards tackled him to the ground, and Zaidi was sentenced to three years in prison. (He ended up serving only nine months and then moved to Beirut.)

Zaidi's protest has made him famous in the Arab world. The Baydan Shoe factory, which manufactured the shoes thrown at Bush, renamed the model "ByeBye Bush" shoe. The shoe was even briefly honoured with a bronze statue at an Iraqi orphanage.

Now, the 39-year-old is running for a seat in the Iraqi parliament.

Zaidi likely will not win - he is running with a fringe party - but he is putting up a good fight. His shoe toss is central to his platform. His campaign's Facebook page includes a prominent clip of the incident.

"As you know me from a long time ago, I will be supporting the oppressed people and be against oppressors," he told supporters in an online video.

He also promised to "sweep away" corruption and "prosecute those who steal Iraqi money".

Zaidi only recently returned to Iraq from Beirut and Europe, where he has lived since he was released from prison. At the time, he told reporters he had suffered beatings, whippings, electric shocks and simulated drownings.

"I am free again, but my homeland is still a prison," he said at the time.

In an op-ed piece from 2009, he wrote about his political activism this way: "I am not a hero. But I have a point of view. I have a stance. It humiliated me to see my country humiliated; and to see my Baghdad burned, my people killed. Thousands of tragic pictures remained in my head, pushing me toward the path of confrontation.

"The scandal of Abu Ghraib. The massacre of Falluja, Najaf, Haditha, Sadr City, Basra, Diyala, Mosul, Tal Afar, and every inch of our wounded land. I travelled through my burning land and saw with my own eyes the pain of the victims, and heard with my own ears the screams of the orphans and the bereaved. And a feeling of shame haunted me like an ugly name because I was powerless."

Those horrors are still on his mind. Someday, he told reporters, he would like to run the country. His goal? Holding the United States accountable.

"I don't have any issue with America or Americans. My only issue is with the former president George W. Bush. He occupied my country, and he killed my people," Zaidi told CNN.

"If I become the prime minister of Iraq or the president then the first thing I will do is to ask the United States of America to officially apologise to all Iraqis, to compensate the victims and hold former president George W. Bush accountable."</s>In 2008, an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during a press conference, and was promptly thrown in jail. Ten years later, the man who threw his shoes at Bush is running for office in Iraq, according to BuzzFeed.

Muntader al-Zaidi was a 28-year-old correspondent for Al Baghdadia, an independent news organization, when he hurled both of his shoes at Bush during a speech in Baghdad and screamed "this is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog!" in Arabic. He was quickly tackled by then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's bodyguards, and was sentenced to three years in jail for attacking a foreign head of state.

"It humiliated me to see my country humiliated; and to see my Baghdad burned, my people killed," al-Zaidi wrote in an op-ed in 2009. "When I threw the shoe in the face of the criminal, George Bush, I wanted to express my rejection of his lies, his occupation of my country, my rejection of his killing my people. My rejection of his plundering the wealth of my country, and destroying its infrastructure."

According to the New York Times, throwing a shoe at somebody is considered a deep insult in Iraq; the implication is that the person targeted is of even lower status than shoes, which are on usually on the ground and covered in dirt. Some Iraqis threw shoes at the statute of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad’s Firdos Square shortly before American forces toppled the monument.

Al-Zaidi would later say that he was beaten and tortured during his subsequent imprisonment. But an appellate court later reduced his sentence to one year, according to CNN, and he was ultimately released after just nine months for good behavior, according to Buzzfeed. Al-Zaidi reportedly then left the country — a CNN report from 2009 suggests that he went to Syria — before returning to Iraq in 2011.

Now, he's running for political office. Despite some erroneous reports that he was seeking to become the next Iraqi president, BuzzFeed reports that al-Zaidi is in fact running for the Council of Representatives, Iraq's parliament. But the president of Iraq, along with the prime minister, is elected by the country's parliament, so if al-Zaidi wins, he will have a role in choosing Iraq's next government.

The Iraqi elections are on May 12th. A poll taken in mid-March, before al-Zaidi announced his candidacy, found that 60 percent of Iraqi voters remained undecided on who they'll support. However, incumbent Prime Minister Haidar Abadi's coalition drew the most support in that survey, with 15 percent, followed by the coalition led by al-Maliki at five percent. That same poll found that the most important issue for Iraqi voters is services and the economy, followed by job opportunities and security.

In a 2015 interview with RT, al-Zaidi said that he doesn't regret throwing his shoes at Bush. He added that the protest "was planned in advance," and claimed to possess a video tape that he says would have been published in the event of his assassination. Although he rejected the idea that he's a hero, al-Zaidi did say that he was representing all Iraqis when he hurled his shoes at the president.

"I have already said I’m not a hero," al-Zaidi said. "But I do represent the feelings of the whole Iraqi people. All Iraqi ethnicities and sections went to the streets to say that all of them are like me, Muntadhar. They support what I did because it represents Iraqis, not another state or someone in outer space. I’m an Iraqi and the demonstrations confirmed my people will fight the US occupation of Iraq."</s>Muntadhar al-Zaidi the Iraqi journalist who infamously threw his shoe at former US president George W Bush in 2008, is now running for parliament in Baghdad.



Al-Zaidi, who at the time worked for Egypt-based al-Baghdadia television network, launched both of his shoes, one at a time, at Bush’s head during a farewell news conference with Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki in his palace.

“This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog,” he had yelled in Arabic at Bush.

“This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq,” he shouted before he was tackled by the prime minister’s bodyguards.

The American president nimbly ducked both shoes, which sailed over his head.

“That was a size 10 shoe he threw at me, you may want to know,” Bush had cracked at the time.

Al-Zaidi was arrested and locked up for the attempted attack on a visiting head of state and spent nine months behind bars. He was released early for good behavior. 



He left the country in 2009 and returned in 2011 and is now running for the Council of Representatives, the country’s legislative branch.

The election is set to take place on May 12.</s>The Iraqi journalist who chucked his shoes at President George W. Bush at a 2008 news conference in Baghdad is looking for a new job — the presidency of Iraq, a new report said Tuesday.

Muntadhar al-Zaidi, who at the time worked for Egypt-based al-Baghdadia television network, launched both of his shoes, one at a time, at Bush’s head during a farewell news conference with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in his palace in the Green Zone.

“This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog,” he yelled in Arabic at Bush as he tried to brain the president.

“This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq,” he shouted before he was tackled by the prime minister’s bodyguards.

The American president nimbly ducked both shoes, which sailed over his head.

“That was a size 10 shoe he threw at me, you may want to know,” Bush cracked at the time.

Zaidi was arrested and locked up for the attempted attack on a visiting head of state and spent nine months behind bars before he was released early for good behavior — and now wants to be president, BuzzFeed News reported.

The president is a largely ceremonial official who, according to the Iraqi constitution, “safeguards the commitment to the Constitution and the preservation of Iraq’s independence, sovereignty, unity, the security of its territories in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.” A maximum of two four-year terms keeps anyone from staying in place.

Fuad Masum currently occupies the office, but the next election is May 12.

Al-Zaidi, alas, won’t have his weaponized footwear to use on the campaign trail, the website reported, because they were destroyed by US and Iraqi security forces in 2008.</s>A man who threw his shoes at former U.S. president George W. Bush during a farewell visit to Iraq in 2008 is now running for a seat in the embattled country’s Council of Representatives.

Broadcaster Muntadhar al-Zaidi, 39, recently announced his campaign to run in the May 12 parliamentary elections and has even hinted at running for the presidency.

READ MORE: Canada’s future role in Iraq being mulled after liberation from ISIS

He made the announcement in a video shared online and it comes nearly 10 years after his infamous footwear attack on Bush, which included a verbal assault on the former president.

“This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog,” al-Zaidi yelled as he tossed the shoe before being pinned to the floor by security personnel. “You killed the Iraqis!”

Al-Zaidi was arrested and sentenced to three years in jail, but only served nine months before his release.

The journalist left Iraq and spent the better part of a decade in Lebanon, before returning two months ago to launch his campaign.

Al-Zaidi revealed to CNN in an interview that he may have aspirations of running for Iraq’s top office.

“If I become the prime minister of Iraq or the president then the first thing I will do is to ask the United States of America to officially apologize to all Iraqis, to compensate the victims and hold former president George W. Bush accountable.”</s>"This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog. This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq."

Those were the words shouted in 2008 by Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi as he took off his shoes and—in an unforgettable and truly historic moment—hurled them one by one at former U.S. President George W. Bush.

"This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog. This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq." 

—Muntazer al-Zaidi, 2008

Now al-Zaidi is running for Iraqi parliament in an effort to help shape the direction of the country Bush and his cronies decimated with their illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003, which ultimately led to the death of more than a million Iraqis.

"When I threw the shoe in the face of the criminal, George Bush, I wanted to express my rejection of his lies, his occupation of my country, my rejection of his killing my people," al-Zaidi wrote in an op-ed for the Guardian shortly following the end of his nine-month prison sentence for "attacking" a foreign head of state. "My rejection of his plundering the wealth of my country, and destroying its infrastructure. And casting out its sons into a diaspora."

Because it never gets old—and because, as one commentator noted, it "makes for one hell of a campaign ad"—here is the video of al-Zaidi throwing his shoes at Bush:

Little is known about al-Zaidi's platform, but as Buzzfeed notes, the former journalist created the al-Zaidi Foundation, a non-profit whose expressed mission is to "find a safe atmosphere for the children who lost their parents during the American occupation on Iraq" and "convict all who contributed in Iraq’s occupation from western leaders and officials."

Here is al-Zaidi's official campaign announcement on Twitter:</s>Muntazar al-Zaidi was just 28-year-old when he became a hero of sorts in his home country of Iraq.

He was a correspondent for independent news organization Al Baghdadia when he infamously threw both his shoes at then-U.S. President George W. Bush during a 2008 press conference, almost hitting the former commander-in-chief who had managed to duck just in time.

“This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog,” Zaidi had yelled in Arabic. “This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq.”

It didn’t take long for the bodyguards of then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to tackle him. The journalist was arrested and later sentenced to three years in prison for attacking a foreign head of state. He claimed he was tortured and badly beaten during his time in jail, but his good behavior earned him an early release.

After nine months in prison, the authorities released Zaidi, who then reportedly left the country and went to Syria, according to the CNN. He returned to Iraq in 2011 and focused on his al-Zaidi Foundation, which worked to “to find a safe atmosphere for the children who lost their parents during the American occupation on Iraq.”

Now, almost a decade after the historic incident, Zaidi is running for Iraq’s Council of Representatives – a government body that is equivalent to the House of Representatives in the United States, reported BuzzFeed News.

The report also clarified some rumors about Zaidi running for the president of Iraq, confirming he is indeed seeking a seat in the parliament.

At the time of his arrest, Zaidi thought something terrible was going to happen to him.

“He thought the secret service was going to shoot him,” his brother, Maitham, told the Guardian. “He expected that, and he was not afraid to die.”

Later, Zaidi also opened up about his actions.

“It humiliated me to see my country humiliated; and to see my Baghdad burned, my people killed,” al-he wrote in a 2009 op-ed. “When I threw the shoe in the face of the criminal, George Bush, I wanted to express my rejection of his lies, his occupation of my country, my rejection of his killing my people. My rejection of his plundering the wealth of my country, and destroying its infrastructure.”

In a 2015 interview, Zaidi made it pretty clear he had no regrets.

“I have already said I’m not a hero,” he told RT. “But I do represent the feelings of the whole Iraqi people. All Iraqi ethnicities and sections went to the streets to say that all of them are like me, Muntadhar. They support what I did because it represents Iraqis, not another state or someone in outer space. I’m an Iraqi and the demonstrations confirmed my people will fight the US occupation of Iraq.”
Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George W. Bush in 2008, will run for Iraqi parliament.