An Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at the US President George W. Bush during Bush's joint press conference with Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Sunday.

The correspondent of the Cairo-based Al-Baghdadiya TV Muntadar al-Zaidi hurled one of his shoes at Bush saying, "This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog", as quoted by the BBC.

Throwing his second shoe at the US President immediately after that al-Zaidi said: "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq".

Both throws were near misses as George W. Bush leaned to avoid them. In Arab culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of disdain.

The Iraqi TV correspondent was wrestled down immediately after the throws, and is presently being interrogated.

The US President joked after the incident that the shoes thrown at him were size 10 (43,25 European, 9 UK), as cited by the BBC.

During his surprise farewell visit to Iraq George W. Bush declared that the war in the country was not over, and that a lot of work remained to be done. After Iraq, George W. Bush flew to Afghanistan on his last visit there as the US Commander-in-Chief.