Shoes Stay On For Bush In Afghanistan

President Addresses Troops, Meets Afghan President After Dissent-Marred Iraq Visit

(CBS/AP)  President Bush got a first-hand look at the deteriorating situation in the seven-year-old Afghanistan war Monday, flying in for a surprise visit to meet the country's leader and to address American troops.

Mr. Bush spoke to U.S. soldiers and Marines at a hangar on the tarmac at Bagram Air Base. He told the troops that Afghanistan is what he calls "a dramatically different country than it was eight years ago."

He struck a hopeful note, telling them, "we are making hopeful gains."

"Thanks to you, the Taliban has gone from power, the al Qaeda training camps are closed, and 25 million Iraqis are free. And the American people, your loved ones, are more secure," Mr. Bush told the troops.

But, Afghanistan has just seen one of the most violent years since the U.S. invaded in 2001 to oust the Taliban.

U.S. commanders are calling for another 20,000 troops to bolster the 31,000 already fighting in the increasingly violent war there, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth.

While Mr. Bush may have hoped for better security conditions across the country, at least nobody threw shoes at him.

His audience in Iraq on Sunday wasn't as gracious.

As the President spoke alongside his Iraqi counterpart in Baghdad, an irate Iraqi television reporter stood up, yelled "this is a farewell kiss, you dog," in Arabic, and launched both of his shoes at the unsuspecting American leader.

Mr. Bush dodged the projectiles with admirable agility. (Watch the video.)

In an interview after the incident with an American television pool reporter, President Bush said: "I thought it was interesting, I thought it was unusual to have a guy throw his show at you. But I'm not insulted.

"The guy wanted to get on TV and he did. I don't know what his beef is. But whatever it is I'm sure somebody will hear it."

An Iraqi government official said Monday the reporter, Muntadar al-Zeidi, was being held for questioning by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's guards and was being tested for alcohol and drugs.

The official told The Associated Press that al-Zeidi was being interrogated over whether anybody paid him to throw his shoes at Mr. Bush during the news conference.

After addressing the troops at Bagram in Afghanistan, Mr. Bush took a helicopter ride to Afghan President Hamid Karzai's palace in Kabul.

At the compound, Mr. Bush and Karzai reviewed an Afghan honor guard before going inside to talk.

Inside, sitting side-by-side with Mr. Bush, Karzai said he and the Afghan people were "very proud and honored to the profoundest depth of our hearts to have President Bush with us here today."

However, Karzai's warm sentiments for the outgoing U.S. President are not shared by all his countrymen - certainly not by his own political opponents.

Speaking to reporters in Kabul, Mr. Bush said he had told Karzai, "you can count on the United States. Just like you've been able to count on this administration, you will be able to count on the next administration."

But CBS News' Fazul Rahim reports many Afghans are counting on the new administration to bring change, rather than a continuation of President Bush's policies.

[closethippy1]

The American military worldwide now needs to ponder if what this reporter did will inspire a wave of shoeicide attacks not only in Iraq but wherever Americans are?
A serious threat in my opinion......

[tommygun083]

Bush is the worst president in the history of the United States. He can never compensate us for what he has done to our country. He has disgraced us and destroyed our dignity and credibility around the world. He should be turned over to an international tribunal at The Hague and tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is too bad the American people can''t try him for what he has done to the economy and to their retirement funds.

[cukidoh]

George Bush and *** Cheney positioned troops on the Kuwait border with money authorized to get Osama Bin Laden (remember him?)in Afganistan. Go to Judicialwatch.org and look at the March 2001 (6 months BEFORE 9/11) Cheney secret energy meeting map (obtained thru the Freedom of Information Act). There is a map of Iraq with the oil fields outlined and a list of the companies and the fields each would develop. They were just itching to go into Iraq. George Bush, *** Cheney, Addington, John Yoo, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Pearl--none of these New American Century (google it) idiots deserve respect. They have the blood of 4,000 Americans on their hands, as well as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi''s. Shoes thrown at Bush? Please. He deserves to be thrown in prison. He has destroyed the economy farther than Bin Laden ever imagined. He''s destroyed everything he touches. Right now he is finding ways to cut down what''s left of our old growth forests, add mercury to our water, *** to our air. He''s a blithering idiot and I can''t wait until January 20th when this arrogant and ignorant dry drunk goes back inside the hole he came out of. This is America, folks, and we are soon to get rid of George Bush''s "free speech zone"--where disagreeing with his regime was unAmerican. Stand up, take off your shoes, and give them a toss for Democracy.

[carolcape]

Good going Bush, you ducked the *** shoes. I know you are at the end of your term and God bless, I do not feel any animosity towards you. I am not into politics too much and I feel you did the best you could. I mean, you are running the country but it is coming out that there are a lot of crooked politicians, both in US and Canada. I thought it was funny and laughed, the shoe incident. But, I also was very surprised that you had no protection from security. Why did they take forever to come through the door??? These guys should be fired pronto. If they are your security, I would not want them looking out for me. You are safe, thank heavens. We do not want anything to happen to you, President Bush. I am from Canada and do not wish you any harm. God Bless.

[matrixrx2003]

demswin08

RowdynTex has NO FACTS only Factless Rants and REETarded posts.

[matrixrx2003]

Hey RowdynTex

Does YOUR GROUP HOME in Crawford Texas know your on the computer again, unsupervised and posting your factless rants and reeetarded posts.

[matrixrx2003]

RowdynTex


You get your Facts from who knows Meth Heads or Crack Heads ?

You need to google your facts before you post them because everybody jus laughs at how much of a **** you are !

[matrixrx2003]

RowdynTex

Your Game is UP, Everybody knows that you post stuff just to make people angry and that you do it out of spite. George W Bush would be very unhappy with you for being such a HATER. Your Facts and never organized and your rants are completely off base all the time and wrong. RowdynTex you like a bratty spoiled teenager who need to be hit in the head with shoes all day.

[matrixrx2003]

RowdynTex = Paper *** Cat !

[matrixrx2003]

RowdynTex

Yada yada, switch subjects RowdynTex / Mudrose !

Get your facts in order before you post and make REEETARDED Statements like you always do every day all the time.