Bush Shoe Throwing Incident Inspires Bizarre Online Games

Well, you had to know this was going to happen. Amidst all the furor over last weekend’s s hoe tossing incident involving an Iraqi journalist and U.S. President George W. Bush, the Internet has come alive with a series of online games designed to recreate and satirize the now historic event.

It happened in Baghdad last Sunday, after Bush made his final visit to the war-torn nation. As he outlined what he called the improvements in the country since the U.S-led effort against Saddam Hussein, an angry TV reporter stood up, called him a “dog” and flung both shoes at the American Commander-in Chief.

Bush ducked each of them and joked they were size 10s.

Since then, the accused has been held in an Iraqi jail amid numerous protests demanding his release. Showing someone the sole of your shoes is considered an insult in the country, and throwing them is even worse.

So it was inevitable that ‘throw shoes at Bush’ video games would crop up and it didn’t take long for them to appear.

One, on the cleverly titled ‘ sockandawe.com‘ site, features a hand holding a shoe and a continuously ducking head of Bush popping up in random places. Your goal is to figure out where he’ll be and bop him in the head with the footwear. You aim the shoe with your mouse and then click the button to launch the projectile, as the audio of the Iraqi journalist’s insult is hurled along with the shoe.

There’s also a list of the top countries people have visited from and the U.S. is number one. Canada comes in 16th. Iraq isn’t on it. So far, more than 3,3793,455 shoes have been hurled at the Bush character.

Another similar site from Germany is a little less challenging, featuring a static Bush ducking at a podium. But players are allowed to post their high scores for the record, with someone named “Snipe” having way to much time on his hands. He’s hit Bush 9,001 times, the definite leader.

Then there’s Bush’s Boot Camp, a slightly more disturbing variation on the theme, where guns at pointed at a constantly moving image of the president and what appear to be bullets and shoes are both fired at him as you target his body. An annoying song continues as you play the game. Bush’s voice is featured in this one, and every time you fire one of the weapons, he’s heard to say “it will take time to restore chaos.”

Is it in bad taste or good fun? There’s a fine line and some of these may have crossed it. The White House hasn’t commented on the games, but claims the President bears no ill will to the shoe thrower, noting people express their thoughts in ‘lots of different ways.’