Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush has apologized in a letter. According to Reuters:

An Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for embarrassing him before the watching world, the prime minister’s office said on Thursday.

TV reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi shot to instant fame when he called Bush a “dog” in Arabic at a joint news conference with Maliki in Baghdad last Sunday and threw both his shoes at Bush in a gesture that is a deep insult in the Arab world.

“Zaidi said in his letter that his big ugly act cannot be excused,” said Yasin Majeed, Maliki’s media adviser.

Big ugly act huh? Yeah… al-Zaidi must have read this blog and been thankful that he wasn’t trying to throw shoes at his (and your) Maximum Leader…

The coda to the Reuters piece amused your Maximum Leader.

Zaidi’s ‘David versus Goliath’ act has made him a sensation in the Arab world, where the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Washington’s support for Israel have generated deep animosity toward Bush. Zaidi’s attorney says more than 1,000 lawyers have offered to defend him.

An Egyptian man offered his 20-year-old daughter to Zaidi as a bride and cobblers from Turkey to Lebanon have claimed that the shoes he hurled were made in their factories.

Perhaps this was al-Zaidi’s motivation. You know he probably thought, “Hey if I make it through this alive I might get some chicks and a Nike endorsement!”

Carry on.