Noting that hitting someone with shoe is a particularly strong rebuke in Iraq, a leading American daily has lamented that President George Bush [Images] refuses to read it that way.

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Interpreting the incident in the context of the Iraq war, the New York Times said more than any other issue, the 'the war of choice' will define Bush's legacy. Yet he remains 'stubbornly convinced' that the 2003 invasion was absolutely right thing to do.

'No one laments the fact that Saddam Hussein [Images] is gone. But there are serious questions about whether war was the right approach and whether Iraq is better off given how Mr Bush and his administration mishandled the aftermath of the invasion,' the paper said in an opinion piece.

The throwing of shoes by Muntader al-Zaidi, an Iraqi TV journalist, at President Bush during a joint press conference on Sunday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad's super-secure Green Zone, transformed him into a 'symbolic figure in the debate about the American military's presence in Iraq', the paper noted.

The Times called for 'speedy trial', a fair process and access to a competent lawyer for Zaidi, saying Bush should not see the incident as a source of 'endless shoe' jokes but must make it clear to Baghdad that the United States does not condone abuse of defendants.

The paper's comments came in the context witnesses telling it that Zaidi was severely beaten after the press conference and dragged out.

The Times noted that the Human Rights Watch portrays a judicial system in Iraq under which defendants are often abused in custody and held for months or even years before being referred to a judge.

When cases are heard, the defendants are often left without adequate defence counsel to answer charges, which are frequently based on secret informants, coerced confessions and flimsy evidence.

Juvenile detainees are often held with adults, the report found, despite an Iraqi law ordering them to be held separately, it added.