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Good Luck Visiting The Iraqi Shoe Monument

But is there an old woman in it?

An Iraqi town has erected a monument to the journalist who threw a shoe at former President Bush, although conditions on the ground in the war-torn country may preclude a steady stream of visitors.

Muntazer al-Zaidi, a journalist who grew up in Sadr City, was just a broadcast journalist at Al-Baghdadia TV before he chucked his shoe at the visiting president -- a local sign of disrespect. Now the city of Tikrit, near Saddam Hussein's birthplace, has immortalized the shoe in a sofa-sized statue -- even while al-Zaidi is in jail awaiting trial.

Iraq sure could use a tourism boost: The State Department currently considers the country "very dangerous" (no kidding) and, while it has not stopped issuing visas for Iraq, it strongly cautions against visiting there. It's too bad, because we'd love to take some gag photos with that shoe.

Related Stories:
· Shoe monument for man who threw footwear at Bush [Reuters via Yahoo!]
· Iraq Travel Warning [Travel.State.Gov]
· Iraq coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: DayLife.com]