Shortly before the Bush shoe throwing, I tested what Iraqi’s thought of him. It was utter and personal revulsion, reflecting the views of the shoe thrower Muntadar al-Zaidi.  But fascinatingly, their views of Americans as a whole were completely positive. 

 And two ironies, if he had hurled his shoes at Saddam, al-Zaidi would have been on death row by now. The rallies hailing him as a hero were organised, it seems, by the cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who voice has only been allowed by the US invasion of Iraq.