# Sock and awe: Bush-bashing becomes an online sensation



## David Baxter PhD (Dec 18, 2008)

Sock and awe: Bush-bashing becomes an online sensation
Reuters
December 17, 2008 

DUBAI — A shoe-throwing incident at an Iraqi news conference with George W. Bush has inspired a spate of Internet games where the players hurl footwear at moving targets of the U.S. president.

The games, which have mushroomed online and spread by e-mail, range from animations to cut-up footage of the now-infamous news briefing on Sunday when an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at the president who ordered the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Pelting someone with shoes is considered a grave insult in the Arab world.

One game, which appears on the site sockandawe.com – a pun on “shock and awe,” the term used by U.S. military officials to describe the initial air assault on Baghdad in 2003 – gives players 30 seconds to try to hit Mr. Bush with a shoe as many times as possible, with the score appearing in a corner of the screen.

Play the game

Players are greeted with the command: “OBJECTIVE: Hit President Bush in the face with your shoes! Do it!”

On-target shots are met with a “well done” message.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki can be seen peeping over a lectern next to a dipping and diving Mr. Bush in the cartoon game.

The television reporter who threw the shoes, Muntazer al-Zaidi, has become an instant sensation in the Arab world. A Facebook profile set up in his honour had enlisted 1,871 fans by Wednesday afternoon, many of whom had posted disparaging messages about the outgoing U.S. leader.

Mr. Zaidi, who admitted his action in court on Tuesday, remains in custody pending an investigation by the judge. He could be sent for trial under a clause in Iraq's penal code that punishes anyone who tries to murder Iraqi or foreign presidents.

Mr. Zaidi's family says he harboured deep anger against Mr. Bush, blaming him for the tens of thousands of Iraqis who died after the U.S.-led invasion unleashed a wave of sectarian and insurgent violence that has only now begun to die down.

Many ordinary Arabs opposed the U.S.-led invasion and blame Mr. Bush for the violence that followed.

Another game at bushbash.flashgressive.de, includes a leader board on which players can post their best scores.

An animated version – Can you throw a shoe at Bush? – claims over 2.2 million direct hits since its Dec. 15 start date.

Bush's Boot Camp starts with an audio quote of Mr. Bush saying “those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere.”

The White House, meanwhile, has said Mr. Bush has no hard feelings about the shoe-throwing incident.

“The President just thinks that, it was just a shoe, people express themselves in lots of different ways,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.


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## Jazzey (Dec 18, 2008)

...I don't even know what to think about this....I think I'm going to have to resort to this guy again....:xp


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## NicNak (Dec 18, 2008)

:walk: Hope none of these shoes accidently kick off :blush:


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