Free Muntadhar al-Zeidi!

The man who chucked his Model 271 brogues at George W. Bush during Bush's final trip to Iraq defiantly refused to apologize today as his trial began.

"What made me do it was the humiliation Iraq has been subjected to due to the U.S. occupation and the murder of innocent people," al-Zeidi said. "I wanted to restore the pride of the Iraqis in any way possible, apart from using weapons."

Al-Zeidi claimed he was tortured by the Iraqi government, which the government denies. The government, um, lacks some credibility here, since cameras caught government security guards beating the tar out of al-Zeidi after he threw the shoe to begin with. Also, the government -- not to mention the US under the Bush years -- has had a bit of a torture problem.

Meanwhile, Al-Zeidi's attorneys, according to the AP, say he's been charged with "assaulting a foreign leader" and could get up to 15 years in jail. All I know is, if the Iraqi government allows that to happen, it will become very, very, very unpopular in the Arab world.