Bush's shoe thrower turns on media

A year after the gesture that instantly gained him adulation throughout the Arab world, the Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush has complained that life since then has not lived up to expectations in one crucial respect - money.

Muntazer al-Zaidi said his only regret after spending nine months in prison - where he says he was repeatedly beaten by his jailers - was that he was still a relatively poor man.

"I blame the media because they said I would become rich for doing what I did, that I would become a multimillionaire," Zaidi said from Switzerland, where he is receiving treatment for health problems.

"Though I thank them for their concern for me, all the promises about gifts I heard when I was in prison were just empty. The only gift I've got since my release is from Canadian television who made me their man of the year and gave me a pair of golden shoes."

Zaidi is determined to find the money to open an orphanage, which will also cater for women widowed during the six years of war.

He said that as a young reporter he had covered many shocking incidents throughout Iraq, including the deaths of families that were allegedly the result of American munitions.

This, he says, was a key motivator in his protest against Bush, then on his final visit as United States President to the country.

In the lead-up to his release in September, Zaidi was hailed across the Muslim world as a hero, an underpaid reporter from a poor quarter of Baghdad who defied the leader of a superpower.

Numerous pledges were made in Arab media, of gifts including virgin brides, gold-saddled horses, cars, houses and camels.

Al-Zaidi was told of the offers in prison, during visits from his brothers.

Draped in a scarf embroidered with an Iraqi flag, Zaidi was given a hero's homecoming at the TV station Al-Baghdadiyah, which still employs him.

Sheep were slaughtered at his feet, trumpets blared and drummers took to the streets.

Satellite channels and local media carried the scenes live.

But within 48 hours he was flown on a private jet, paid for by an unknown benefactor, first to Damascus and then to Geneva, where he remains.

The home that was bought for him in a Shiite suburb of northeast Baghdad remains empty, as do his private coffers.

"I am happy I defended my country's dignity. All free people respect this. I still have problems in my stomach, my liver and with my nose, which didn't heal properly after the guards broke it. It is being paid for with my own money and through friends."

He said his rapid departure from Iraq was to escape persecution from the Government.

Three months after leaving Iraq, he is still unsure about when he will return.

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