Three years of prison for missing shoes?

I heard this man (mr. Zaidi) is imprisoned for three years...

His crime is bit funny - he threw shoes at president Bush with some offensive words attached.

But at the face of Democracy (and more - at the face of God) - is not mr. Bush just the same human being as any other - is he? Has he golden nails on his fingers, third eye in his head, blue blood in his veins or some other interesting feature? No. I think no. Though I did not see him closely...

If Zaidi threw his unhappy boots at me or at you, or at some other man... (and he missed - so did no harm, yes?) I think the sentence could be less severe...

(or is his guilty exactly that he missed?)