THEY were the shoes seen around the world. On Dec. 14, US President George Bush appeared at a news conference in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki. It was then that Iraqi journalist, Muntadar Al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia stood up about 12 feet from Bush and shouted in Arabic: “This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!” He threw one of his shoes at Mr. Bush, who ducked and narrowly avoided it.

Then Al-Zeidi threw his other shoe, shouting in Arabic, “This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!” That shoe also narrowly missed Bush as Prime Minister Al-Maliki stuck a hand in front of the president's face to help shield him.

Al-Zeidi's shoes have now been destroyed during testing for hidden explosives, but they will live on forever in cyberspace. Dozens of games and animations of the shoe-throwing incident have been posted at websites hosted worldwide. And not surprisingly, given the animosity felt by many toward President Bush, the shoes thrown in the virtual world don't miss their target.

One of the first games to appear is at www.kroma.no/2008/bushgame. The game asks, “Can you throw a shoe at Bush?” There have been over seven and a half million hits with a shoe on the caricature of the president and over sixty million total attempts at a shoe throw.

Contacted through e-mail in Norway, Tarald Alfsen CEO of KROMA AS wrote: “This is nothing but a humorous comment to the event. We are amazed by the interest it has created! We put it up as a response to the video broadcasted at Norway's largest website: www.vg.no where we are provider of the Net-TV solution. The 'throw a shoe' game was produced the same morning we saw the video.”

Another game is a take on the children's game, “Duck, Duck Goose.” “Duck, Duck Bush,” (www.duckduckbush.com) notes that “at some point in the past eight years we have all wanted to throw something at President Bush. Why should an Iraqi journalist have all the fun?” Players are invited to throw much more than a shoe at the president. Tar and feather, tomatoes, chickens and other items are available. The site encourages players to make suggestions of items to throw and the best ones are added to the collection of possible projectiles.

It's not just individuals in the Middle East who support the idea of saluting the president with a shoe. The website www.thankyouforthrowingyourshoe.com states, “Hold up your shoe for Muntadar Al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist who was arrested for throwing his shoes at President Bush. We don't condone shoe throwing, but we prefer it to war." The site has a gallery twenty pages in length of photos of people holding up shoes in support of Al-Zeidi. There are no names with the photos but the individuals photographed hail from locations such as Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, USA and Guatemala City.

Watch Al-Zeidi's actual shoe throw at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFX-dKpcDz8. The site www.viralvideochart.com claims that there have been more than 13 million views of the shoe footage. YouTube also has posts of the shoe throw in slow motion, news reports of reaction to the incident, parodies and mashups. Get an overview of the funniest of these through www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx2czGteQeo. There's a large collection of "shoeing" animations at www.papygeek.com. See the Dec. 17 entry. The site's in French, but just click around focusing on the graphics, and enjoy.

Direct support of Al-Zeidi is on offer through a fan page set up at www.facebook.com/pages/Muntadar-al-Zaidi-The-Shoe-Thrower/39074759868. He already has more than 32,500 fans. Additionally, sign a petition at www.ipetitions.com/petition/iwffomuntatharalzaidi/?e. This is a 50,000 Signature Campaign demanding Al-Zeidi's release.