White House comments on Bush shoe incident

SHOTLIST
Baghdad, Iraq - 14 December 2008
1. Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi throwing his shoes at Bush during a joint news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki
Washington DC, United States - 16 December 2008
2. El Salvador President Tony Saca shaking hands with US President George W. Bush during meeting at White House
Washington DC, United States - 16 December 2008
3. Wide of White House briefing
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dana Perino, White House Press Secretary
"Well, it was just a shoe, and the President saw it from his vantage point. He felt fine about it. I think you saw he let the Secret Service know he thought he was okay, and the Secret Service jumped in as quickly as they thought they needed to. And then they were able to back off and let the Prime Minister of a duly, the duly elected Prime Minister of a sovereign Iraq taking questions from journalists there who never would have been able to do that five years ago. And the President just thinks it was just a, it was just a shoe. People express themselves in lots of different ways. Obviously he was very angry. I can't think, I don't, I can't tell you exactly what the shoe thrower was thinking, but I can tell what the President thought, was that he was fine. And he said immediately, you saw his reaction was, don't worry about it; it was okay. So we hold no hard feelings about it, and we've really moved on."
5. Wide shot of end of briefing
STORYLINE:
US President George W. Bush holds no "hard feelings" towards the Iraqi journalist who threw two shoes at him during a news conference in Baghdad, according to a spokeswoman for the White House.
Muntadhar al-Zeidi, has been in custody since Sunday, when he gained folk hero status across the Arab world by hurling both shoes at Bush, who ducked twice during the bizarre assault and was not injured.
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said Bush "felt fine" about the incident, and "he said immediately, you saw his reaction was, don't worry about it; it was okay. So we hold no hard feelings about it, and we've really moved on."
Al-Zeidi is expected to appear before a judge on Wednesday in a first step of a complex legal process that could end in a criminal trial, a government official and the reporter's brother said.
Earlier on Tuesday Bush met with El Salvador President Tony Saca, who said that he had congratulated the US president for his "great reflexes" in avoiding the shoes.
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/d207ec6c2b33baf6015376c0c8a39076
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork

Видео White House comments on Bush shoe incident канала AP Archive