© ReutersStatue built for Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi, who hurled his shoes at former U.S. president George Bush, is seen in Tikrit
The shoe, in which a tree has been planted, stands 10 feet high and sits atop a white pedestal in Tikrit, the hometown of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
A rose bush is growing next to the monument which was erected in the gardens of an Iraqi foundation that cares for children whose parents have died in the violence that engulfed Iraq after the March 2003 US-led invasion.
A poem praising Iraqi journalist Muntader al-Zaidi has also been written on a board and stands at the foot of the monument, the work of Iraqi artist Laith al-Ameri.
