Laura Bush: Shoe thrower lucky Saddam gone

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. first lady Laura Bush says she isn't laughing off the incident in Iraq in which a reporter disrupted a news conference by hurling his shoes at her man.

Mrs. Bush said on "Fox News Sunday" that while President George Bush was a "natural athlete" who was able to easily duck the flying footwear, she wasn't amused.

"It is an assault," Mrs. Bush said, "and I think it should be treated that way, and I think people should think of it that way."

She added that the fact the offender would be released sooner rather than later was an indication of the new freedoms Iraqis are enjoying since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

"I know that if Saddam Hussein had been there, the man wouldn't have been released," she said. "He probably would have been executed."