A statue erected in Iraq in honor of the journalist who hurled a shoe at former President Bush has been dismantled by police.  The statue (seen left) was cast of bronze and stood approximately 10 feet (3 meters) high.  It was displayed on a white pedestal in the gardens of a humanitarian foundation establish to assist children whose parents have died in the seemingly endless violence in Iraq following the US invasion.  Inside the statue a Bush was planted.

The journalist who threw the shoe at Bush in the now world famous incident, Muntazar al-Zaidi, is now facing up to 15 years in prison on the charge of “aggression against a foreign head of state during an official visit”.  This is a rather excessive punishment considering that 1) the shoe didn’t even hit Bush, and 2) practically the entire world wishes they could have done the same thing but were simply never given the opportunity. 

You can takepart in helping rebuild Iraq by checking out the work of the International Red Cross.

LINKS:

AP: Iraq sculpture honoring Bush shoe-thrower removed

Reuters: Shoe monument for man who threw footwear at Bush

BBC News: Bush shoe sculpture taken down