What Iraqi shoe-tosser really said about dogs

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2009:
BAGHDAD–Did Iraqi journalist Muntader al-Zaidi, 29, insult
dogs on Dec-ember 14, 2008, or just U.S. President George W. Bush?
According to The New York Times account of the incident, as
Bush spoke at a Baghdad press conference, Zaidi “rose abruptly from
about 12 feet away, reared his right arm, and fired a shoe at the
president’s head while shouting in Arabic: ‘This is a gift from the
Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!'”
Bush ducked and the shoe missed him. Zaidi then threw his
other shoe, missing again, shouting “This is from the widows, the
orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!”
Zaidi was then subdued and taken into custody. He was still
jailed, facing up to seven years in prison, as ANIMAL PEOPLE went
to press.


Most media published in English used the same translation of
Zaidi’s words as The New York Times. But ANIMAL PEOPLE questioned
whether he really used the word “dog” in the generic sense, and
whether he really mentioned giving a dog a farewell kiss, in a
society where dogs are rarely kept as pets and are almost never
kissed.
Inquiries of Arabic speakers confirmed that what Zaidi
actually said would be more accurately translated as, “This is your
kick in the butt, you son of a bitch!”
Zaidi threw his shoes and shouted about a month after endemic
rabies blamed for causing 13 human deaths in Baghdad in August 2008
alone prompted the Baghdad provincial government to begin killing
dogs, following a five-year hiatus.
“Teams of veterinarians and police officers used poisoned
meat and rifles to kill the animals,” reported Sameer N. Yacoub of
Associated Press.
The entire street dog population of Baghdad, a city of seven
million humans, was officially estimated at only 1,000.

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