We at NYU are no strangers to ostentatious forms of protest, but this one certainly generated more fanfare than your average act of rebellion. You might remember this grin-inducing clip from back in December 2008, when an agile President George W. Bush dodged two shoes flung at him from 12 feet away by a disgruntled Iraqi journalist at a press conference in Baghdad. After serving nine months of a three year sentence in jail for “assaulting a foreign leader,” that journalist – Muntazer al-Zaidi – was freed Tuesday.

At the press conference following his release, Zaidi justified his actions by saying, “what incited me toward confrontation is the oppression that fell upon my people and how the occupation wanted to humiliate my homeland by placing it under its boots.” Of his unorthodox missile he said, “The criminal murderer is standing here expecting us to throw flowers at him; this was my flower to the occupier.”

Zaidi claims to have been “beaten with iron bars, whipped with cords and electrocuted in the backyard of the building in the Green Zone.” Though undoubtedly appalling, his treatment is hardly surprising given how embarrassing the incident was for Iraq’s government and security forces.

Zaidi’s supposed torture in the custody of Iraqi officials embodies the gulf between the government and the general Iraqi population that insurgents seek to exploit to undermine the new regime. While the Iraqi and American governments denounced Zaidi’s actions as a petulant crime, those who harbor anti-Bush sentiment hailed it as an emblematic protest against America’s presence in Iraq. Though the fate of those infamous shoes is unknown, a Saudi Arabian man offered $10 million to purchase just one of them. General Gaddafi awarded Zaidi Libya’s Medal of Freedom and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has offered Zaidi both $100,000 and citizenship – a proposal he might need to take up given the threat he feels for his life.

“I want to warn all my relatives and people close to me that these [US] services will use all means to trap and try to kill and liquidate me either physically, socially or professionally.”

Though Zaidi has said he wants to stay on in Iraq to help those wrecked by the war, it looks likely he will leave the country. He has a number of destinations to choose from – perhaps first to Greece for medical treatment, then maybe Libya or Chile to collect his accolades – but definitely nowhere near Crawford, Texas.