Iraqi shoe hurler inspires art

A friend of mine turned me on to this story about a monument that has been built in honor of the reporter who threw both of his shoes at President Bush during a news conference in Iraq. I have never heard about a monument being built around someone who had such a relatively small impact on the world.
When you go to Washington DC you see plenty of monuments, most of them in honor of former presidents like Washington and Lincoln. I would like to know if the person who threw the shoe at Bush is looked at as a national hero similar to the way that some of our former presidents are. If this man is looked at like a national hero it really speaks volumes about how much some Iraqis dislike our country.
The artist said that the show hurler "is a source of pride for all Iraqis." If we are really this disliked by the people of Iraq to this extent then even talking to them over world issues could prove to be a difficult task. There are some who say the we are all human and if we just sit and talk about world issues we can eventual find some kind of peace throughout the world. The question I ask is if it is even possible to talk in a diplomatic fashion with people who have this level of hatred for us and our way of life?
To some extent I see where the Iraqi people are coming from in how much they respect this person who threw the shoe at Bush. Bush went into Iraq on a search for weapons of mass destruction that were never found. He dramatically changed the daily lives of the citizens of a country and then one day someone got the chance to stand up to him and did so through throwing his shoes at the former president. He did what many Iraqi people would have paid to do in that situation and so that makes him a hero in the eyes of some