The White House said the US President George W. Bush holds no "hard feelings" towards the Iraqi journalist, who threw two shoes at him during a news conference in Baghdad.

Dana Perino, the White House Press Secretary, said Bush "felt fine" about the incident.

"The President just thinks it was just a shoe. People express themselves in lots of different ways. He said immediately, you saw his reaction was, don't worry about it; it was okay. So we hold no hard feelings about it, and we've really moved on."

The Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeid has been in custody since Sunday. A government official said the journalist is expected to appear before a judge on Wednesday.