By now everyone in the US, Iraq, and probably the rest of the universe has heard that an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at President George W. Bush yesterday. News travels fast, especially when accompanied by video and still images of the president ducking while the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki tried to block the incoming projectile. Now, more information about the shoe-throwing reporter is coming to light.

His name is Muntazer al-Zaidi and he works for the independent al-Baghdadiya television. After being dragged from the room by security guards, he was detained by the Iraqi government where he remains. The government calls his antics a “barbaric act” and says he will stand trial on charges of insulting the Iraqi state. While throwing shoes might seem silly to us in the west, it is the worst possible insult in the Arab world.

Many Iraqis are praising Zaidi for his insult. His brother, Udai al-Zaidi, told Reuters Television that his brother’s “act fills Iraqi harts with pride.” In Baghdad’s Sadr City, a few thousand supporters of anti-American Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr staged an anti-Bush march and demanded Zaidi’s immediate release. Rallies also occurred in Basra and in Najaf, where demonstrators threw shoes at a passing American convoy and called Bush a “cow.”

Zaidi, said to be in his late 20s, is a Shi’ite who was kidnapped by armed men in 20007 as he walked to work. He said at the time that the kidnappers had beaten him until he lost consciousness, and used his necktie to blindfold him. They questioned him about his work but did not demand a ransom, eventually setting him free.

Friends say Zaidi resented President Bush and blamed him for the bloodshed that ravaged Iraq after the invasion. His brother said that Zaidi “used to say all the orphans whose fathers were killed are because of Bush.”

Here in the US, the incident is being met with a heavy dose of humor. An “Official G.W. Bush Shoe Throw” game that allows anyone to try to hit the unpopular president with a digital shoe has already been created.

Fortunately, this is W’s farewell visit to Iraq. Otherwise the Secret Service might have to start confiscating the footwear of all journalists prior to press conferences. Or be ready to take not only bullets for the president, but flying shoes as well.