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The 2009 David [hero!] v Goliath

Who could forget it? The shoe-thrower, at George W, at the press conference in Baghdad.

The so-called miscreant is about to be released from jail - a hero! The Guardian reports:

"As his size 10s spun through the air towards George Bush, Muntazer al-Zaidi - the man the world now knows as the shoe-thrower - was bracing for an American bullet.

''He thought the secret service was going to shoot him,'' says Zaidi's younger brother, Maitham. ''He expected that, and he was not afraid to die.''

Zaidi's actions during the former US president's swansong visit to Iraq last December have not stopped reverberating in the nine months since. Next Monday, when the journalist walks out of prison, his 10 raging seconds are set to take on a new life even more dramatic than the opening act.

Across Iraq and in every corner of the Arab world, Zaidi is being feted. The 20 words or so he spat at Mr Bush - ''This is your farewell kiss, you dog. This is for the widows and orphans of Iraq'' - have been immortalised, and in many cases memorised. Pictures of the president ducking have been etched on to walls across Baghdad, made into T-shirts in Egypt, and appeared in children's games in Turkey.

Zaidi has won the adulation of millions who believe his act of defiance did what their leaders had been too cowed to do. Iraq has been short of heroes since the dark days of Saddam Hussein, and many civilians are bestowing greatness on the figure that finally took the fight to an overlord."

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