Iraqi Shoe-Thrower Stands Trial.

The brave Iraqi journalist famous for throwing his shoes at George W. Bush is now standing trial and is explaining why he did what he did. He has testified that he threw the shoes because of Bush's cold smiles as he claimed to have brought freedom to Iraq, when in fact, all the US occupation has brought to Iraq is misery, destruction, rape and killing.

updated 8:25 a.m. PT, Thurs., Feb.19, 2009

BAGHDAD - An Iraqi reporter who hurled his shoes at George W. Bush said in the past he had videotaped himself practicing the Arab insult to use against the president whose "icy smile" had filled him with uncontrollable rage.

At the start of his trial in Baghdad on charges of assaulting a foreign leader, Muntadhar al-Zeidi said he recorded his shoe-throwing training two years ago and had hoped to accost Bush in Jordan but this did not take place.

Al-Zeidi, who was hailed across the Middle East by critics of the Iraq invasion and who also called Bush a "dog," told the court he had acknowledged making a training film under interrogation after his arrest at a Baghdad news conference.

"I said this before the guards of the prime minister after I was beaten and after my body was devoured by electricity," said al-Zeidi, who added that his original plan had been to throw the shoes at Bush during a news conference in Amman.

But al-Zeidi, whose unusual protest overshadowed Bush's final visit to Iraq in December, insisted he had not planned to attack Bush this time.

Instead, he said Bush's smile as he talked about achievements in Iraq had made him think of "the killing of more than a million Iraqis, the disrespect for the sanctity of the mosques and houses, the rapes of women," and enraged him.


Al-Zeidi himself said he could not be charged with assaulting a visiting head of state when that leader was also the chief of an occupation force. "How can he be a guest in an area that they themselves run?" he said.

"I did not intend to kill U.S. President Bush. But I wanted to express what is inside of me and what is inside all Iraqis, from north to south and east to west, the hatred we have for this man.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29273263/

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