This Associated Press video is called Iraqi Shoe-throwing Sculpture Removed.
A video from the USA, which is no longer on YouTube, used to say about itself:
George Bush‘s legacy in Iraq is now displayed in the long-lasting form of a sculpture monument of a shoe. Will Obama’s legacy be better?
Unfortunately, “the long-lasting form of a sculpture monument” lasted for just one day before its destruction by tyrannical authority.
From Associated Press:
Jan 31, 10:56 AM EST
Iraq sculpture honoring Bush shoe-thrower removed
BAGHDAD — The director of an Iraqi orphanage says a sculpture honoring an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former President George W. Bush has been removed.
Fatin al-Nassiri says Iraqi police told her the statue had to be removed from the orphanage in Tikrit because government property should not be used for something with a political bias.
She says the sofa-sized statue of a shoe was taken down on Saturday after being unveiled on Thursday.
Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi threw his shoes during a Dec. 14 news conference in Baghdad. Throwing shoes at someone is a sign of extreme contempt in Arab culture.
From the BBC:
When the sculpture was unveiled, artist Laith al-Amari insisted it was not a political work, but a “source of pride for all Iraqis”. …
Mr Zaidi shot to fame as a result of his action, which signalled extreme contempt in the Arab world, and inspired rallies across the Middle East and beyond.
Since his arrest, the TV journalist has reportedly been beaten in custody, suffering a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding.
He has been charged with aggression against a foreign head of state, and faces up to 15 years in jail if convicted. His family denies he has done anything wrong.
A SHOE HEARD ‘ROUND THE WORLD – My interview with Muntadhar al-Zaidi: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Iraqis should put the shoe sculpture back up after U.S. forces leave in honor of their new democratic rights
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Yes coffee, I agree. However, the BBC report used the word “dismantled” for the sculpture. So, I am afraid that it was destroyed. However, there are pictures of the sculpture all over the Internet, so it lives on in that sense. I hope that the sculptor won’t be killed or tortured, so he will be able to make the sculpture again. About 90% of artists alive in 2003 in Iraq are now dead or have fled the country.
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ANSWER Coalition Responds
to President Obama’s Iraq Speech
of Friday, February 27
All Out for the Mass March on the Pentagon
on Saturday March 21, 2009!
With his speech today, President Obama has essentially agreed to continue the criminal occupation of Iraq indefinitely. He announced that there will be an occupation force of 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq for at least three more years. President Obama used carefully chosen words to avoid a firm commitment to remove the 50,000 occupation troops, even after 2011.
The war in Iraq was illegal. It was aggression. It was based on lies and false rationales. President Obama’s speech today made Bush’s invasion sound like a liberating act and congratulated the troops for “getting the job done.” More than a million Iraqis died and a cruel civil war was set into motion because of the foreign invasion. President Obama did not once criticize the invasion itself.
He has also requested an increase in war spending for Iraq and Afghanistan, and plans to double the number of U.S. troops sent to fight in Afghanistan.
President Obama has asked Congress to provide more than $200 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars over the next two years, in addition to increasing the Pentagon budget by four percent.
Based on President Obama’s new budget, the Pentagon would rank as the world’s 17th largest economy if it were a country. This new budget increases war spending. Total spending in 2010 would roughly equate to an average of $21,000 a second.
This is not the end of the occupation of Iraq, but rather the continuation of the occupation.
There is only one reason that tens of thousands of troops will remain in Iraq: It is because this is a colonial-type occupation of a strategically important and oil-rich country located in the Middle East where two-thirds of the world’s oil reserve can be found.
Obama’s speech was a major disappointment for anyone who was hoping that Obama would renounce the illegal occupation of Iraq. Today, the U.S. government spends $480 million per day to fund the occupation of Iraq. Even if 100,000 troops are drawn out by August 2010, that means the indefinite occupation of Iraq will cost more than $100 million each day. The continued occupation of Iraq for two years or three years or more makes a complete mockery out of the idea that the Iraqi people control their own destiny. It is a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and independence.
It is no wonder that John McCain came out to support President Obama’s announced plan on Iraq. McCain was an supporter of former President Bush’s and Vice President Cheney’s war and occupation in Iraq.
Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld–the architects of regime change in Iraq–never had the goal of indefinitely keeping 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. They wanted to subdue the Iraqi people–and exercise control with a smaller force. The Iraqi armed resistance prolonged the stationing of 150,000 U.S. troops.
Bush’s goal was domination over Iraq and its oil supplies, and domination over the region. This continues to be the goal of the U.S. political and economic establishment, including that of the new administration.
President Obama decided not to challenge the fundamental strategic orientation. That explains why he kept the Bush team–Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and Generals Petraeus and Odierno–on the job to oversee and manage the Iraq occupation. They will also manage the widening U.S. war in Afghanistan and the aerial assaults on Pakistan. There have been over 30 U.S. bombing attacks in Pakistan in the last two months.
We are marching on Saturday, March 21 because the people of this country are fed up with the status quo. They want decent-paying jobs, and affordable health care and housing for all. Students want to study rather than be driven out by soaring tuition rates. The majority of people want a complete–not partial–withdrawal of ALL troops from Iraq. They want the war in Afghanistan to end rather than escalate. They are increasingly opposed to sending $2.6 billion each year to Israel and want an end to the colonial occupation of Palestine.
Don’t miss the important announcement about the
Dramatic Action Planned for the March 21st Pentagon March:
On March 21, 2009, March on the Pentagon
and the Corporate War Profiteers
X
Get Involved
* Find Transportation to DC
* Sign up if you are organizing transportation
* Download flyers and posters
* Add a link
* View list of endorsers
* Endorse
* Sign up to volunteer
* Donate
Go to http://www.pentagonmarch.org for more information.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.answercoalition.org/
info@internationalanswer.org
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