Shoe Thrower Says Sorry

Muntazer Al Zaidi, the reporter who threw his shoes at President Bush and called him a “dog,” has allegedly written Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki an apology for embarrassing him. “Zaidi said in his letter that his big ugly act cannot be excused,” said Maliki’s media adviser. Zaidi apparently added, “But I remember in the summer of 2005, I interviewed your Excellency and you told me, ‘Come in, this is your house.’ And so I appeal to your fatherly feelings to forgive me.” Zaidi’s brother doubted that he actually apologized. “This information is absolutely not true. This is a lie. Muntazer is my brother and I know him very well. He does not apologize," he said. It’s unclear, exactly, how Zaidi’s contrition will affect his newfound celebrity in the Middle East. Since the incident, more than 1,000 lawyers have supposedly volunteered to defend him, an Egyptian man offered him his 20-year-old daughter as a bride, and shoemakers across the Middle East have claimed that they were the makers of the famous shoes.