Police Order Statue Dedicated to Bush Shoe-Thrower Removed

BAGHDAD – The director of an orphanage in Tikrit says she must remove the shoe sculpture set up to honor the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former U.S. President George W. Bush.

Fatin al-Nassiri says Iraqi police told her the statue had to be removed because government property should not be used for something with a political bias.

She says the statue was taken down on Saturday.

A sofa-sized shoe statue was formally unveiled to the public Thursday in the hometown of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Baghdad-based artist Laith al-Amari described his fiberglass-and-copper work in Tikrit as a homage to the pride of the Iraqi people.