George W. Bush’s farewell visit to Iraq today was marred when an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at the US President and shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog".
Mr Bush was at a press conference in Baghdad with Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki when the incident took place. Throwing shoes at somebody is a supreme insult in the Middle East.
One of the shoes sailed over Mr Bush’s head and hit the wall behind him while the president had to duck to avoid the other one.
The journalist was leapt on by Iraqi security officials and US secret service agents and dragged from the room struggling.
Mr Bush who had secretly flown into Iraq from Washington earlier today said: "It's like going to a political rally and have people yell at you. It's a way for people to draw attention”.
"I don't know what the guy's cause was. I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it," he said.
At the conference, Mr Bush declared that while great strides have been taken toward peace, "the war is not over".
Just weeks before he bequeaths the unpopular Iraq war to President-elect Barack Obama, Mr Bush made a show of improved security in Baghdad after five years of sectarian bloodshed by landing in daylight and venturing out beyond the heavily fortified international Green Zone.
The president's fleeting visit to Baghdad was aimed at marking the recent passage of a US-Iraq security pact that paves the way for US troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by July next year and withdraw completely by the end of 2011.
It was also meant to hail a recent sharp fall in the sectarian violence and insurgency that raged after the 2003 US invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, and to show support for Iraqi police and soldiers as they take on increasing responsibility.
Asked whether he had come to Iraq on a victory lap, Mr Bush said: "No, I consider it an important step on the road toward an Iraq that can sustain itself, govern itself and defend itself."
"There's still more work to be done. The war is not over," he said.
Mr Bush held talks with President Jalal Talabani and Mr Maliki at the presidential palace, and was to address US troops.
Mr Talabani called Bush a great friend of the Iraqi people "who helped us to liberate our country."
Mr Maliki, who had a strained look on his face after the shoe-throwing, praised Bush: "You have stood by Iraq and the Iraqi people for a very long time, starting with getting rid of the dictatorship."
The US-Iraq security pact, which replaces a UN mandate governing the presence of foreign troops, has its critics in Iraq, some of whom doubt the United States will live up to its promise to withdraw.
"We reject this visit, as it occurs at a time when Iraq is still under the US occupation and the US army has the upper hand in controlling the security situation," said Ahmed al-Massoudi, a spokesman for the parliamentary bloc loyal to anti-American Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
"This visit is a show of force."
Earlier Mr Bush was greeted on the heavily guarded tarmac in Baghdad by the top US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker.
The decision to land in broad daylight reflected confidence that Baghdad was more secure this time than in Mr Bush's last visit to the capital in 2006 when sectarian violence was raging.
Until Air Force One touched down, Mr Bush's trip was conducted in strictest secrecy. The presidential jet was rolled out of its giant hangar only after everyone was on board. Journalists' electronic devices, from cellphones to iPods, were confiscated.
Mr Bush, dressed casually and wearing a black baseball cap after his night-time getaway from the White House, made a rare appearance in the press cabin just before takeoff.
"Nobody knew who I was," he joked when an aide complimented him on his disguise.
Reuters, AP