Yesterday, at a press conference in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at the Prime Minister’s Palace, an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at President Bush. The President ducked under the bizarre act, but the event left us wondering where the Secret Service were during all this? 

A look at the video below shows there were a few seconds where the reporter telegraphed his intentions - as if standing up, calling President Bush a dog, and posturing forward wasn't enough of an alert.  So why wasn't there a Secret Service agent in front of the podium. Are they willing to take bullets but not shoes?

Certainly, few would have been able to see the first one coming. But in the wake of the shoe bomber, wouldn't taking off one shoes elicit some interest from the Secret Service in the first place? And why was this shoe-hurling reporter able to get off a second throw? And in the words of the 007 spoof character Austin Powers: "Who throws a shoe? Honestly."

In Iraqi culture, shoe throwing is one of the ultimate insults. Following the toppling of Saddam Hussein's stature during the initial Iraqi invasion, Iraqi's pounded the stature with the soles of their shoes.

Although the President seemed to laugh off the incident, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino suffered from a black eye from being hit in the face with a microphone during the subsequent scuffle that took place.

“Okay, everybody calm down for a minute,” Bush said. "First of all, thank you for apologizing on behalf of the Iraqi people. It doesn’t bother me. And if you want some — if you want the facts, it’s a size-10 shoe that he threw. (Laughter.) Thank you for your concern, do not worry about it." 

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