Iraq shoe-thrower inspires Bush-bashing Web games

By Lin Noueihed

DUBAI (Reuters) - A shoe-throwing incident at an Iraqi news conference with George W. Bush has inspired a spate of Internet games where the players hurl footwear at moving targets of the U.S. president.

The games, which have mushroomed online and spread by email, range from animations to cut-up footage of the now-infamous news briefing on Sunday when an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at the president who ordered the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Pelting someone with shoes is considered a grave insult in the Arab world.

One game, which appears on the site www.sockandawe.com -- a pun on "shock and awe," the term used by U.S. military officials to describe the initial air assault on Baghdad in 2003 -- gives players 30 seconds to try to hit Bush with a shoe as many times as possible, with the score appearing in a corner of the screen.

Players are greeted with the command: "OBJECTIVE: Hit President Bush in the face with your shoes! Do it!"

On-target shots are met with a "well done" message.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki can be seen peeping over a lectern next to a dipping and diving Bush in the cartoon game.

The television reporter who threw the shoes, Muntazer al-Zaidi, has become an instant sensation in the Arab world. A Facebook profile set up in his honor had enlisted 1,871 fans by Wednesday afternoon, many of whom had posted disparaging messages about the outgoing U.S. leader.