If the shoe fits…throw it, as Bush ducks the chuck in Iraq

GEORGE Bush visited Iraq yesterday, his final trip to the country that has defined his leadership – the quality of which was disputed by at least one Iraqi, who threw his shoes at the outgoing president.

Mr Bush got a size-ten reminder of the intense opposition to his policies as a man threw two shoes at him – one after the other – during a news conference alongside Iraq prime minister Nouri al-Maliki.

"This is the end!" shouted the man, later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadiya television.

Mr Bush ducked both throws – neither leader was hit. The gesture has added significance in the Middle East, where striking with, or even displaying, the soles of shoes to another person is considered an insult. "All I can report is a size ten," the president joked.

Mr Bush was visiting the Iraqi capital just 37 days before he hands the war over to president-elect Barack Obama, who has pledged to end it. The president wanted to highlight a drop in violence in a nation still riven by ethnic strife and to celebrate a recent US-Iraq security agreement, which calls for US troops to withdraw by the end of 2011.

"There is still more work to be done," Mr Bush said after his meeting with Mr Maliki, adding that the agreement puts Iraq on a solid footing. "The war is not over."

In many ways, the unannounced trip was a victory lap without a clear victory.

Polls show most Americans believe the US erred in invading Iraq in 2003. Mr Bush ordered the nation into war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq while citing intelligence claiming the nation harboured weapons of mass destruction. The weapons were never found, the intelligence was discredited, America's global credibility plummeted and British participation in the build-up to the war and its execution severely damaged Tony Blair.

In the news conference with Mr Maliki, the US president applauded security gains in Iraq and said that just two years ago "such an agreement seemed impossible". He added: "There is hope in the eyes of Iraq's young. This is the future of what we've been fighting for."

Mr Maliki said: "Today, Iraq is moving forward in every field."

Air Force One, the president's distinctive powder-blue-and-white jetliner, landed at Baghdad International Airport in the afternoon local time after a secretive Saturday night departure from Washington. In a sign of security gains, Mr Bush received a formal arrival ceremony – a flourish absent from his three earlier trips.

Mr Bush soon began a rapid-fire series of meetings with top Iraqi leaders. He met first Iraqi president Jalal Talabani and the country's two vice-presidents, Tariq al-Hashemi and Adel Abdul-Mahdi, at the ornate, marble-floored Salam Palace along the shores of the Tigris River. Defending the war, Mr Bush said: "The work hasn't been easy, but it has been necessary for American security, Iraqi hope and world peace."

Later, Mr Bush's motorcade pulled out of the heavily fortified Green Zone and crossed over the Tigris so he could meet Mr Maliki at the prime minister's palace.

The Bush administration and even White House critics credit last year's military build-up with the security gains in Iraq. Last month, attacks fell to the lowest monthly level since the war began in 2003.

IN NUMBERS

150,000

the number of US troops that remain in Iraq.

4,209

the number of US soldiers who have died in Iraq since 2003.

177

the number of UK troops killed in Iraq in the same period.

100,000 to 655,000

the number of Iraqi civilians who have died (no reliable figures].

$576 billion

what the war has cost the US.

2011 the date most American forces will be withdrawn by, according to a new agreement.