A guy in Baghdad threw a shoe at President George W. Bush, make that two shoes, the other day and it wasn't a U.S. soldier or his family who did the throwing. Nor was it a U.S. citizen sick of the war and of being lied to. The shoe thrower was Iraqi and a reporter, at a press conference. Now he's being seen across the Arabic speaking world, where they don't seem to like us very much, as something of a hero. He's a jerk, obviously, but the sheer weirdness of his action has struck a chord in people sick and tired of Bush's policies.
In the U.S., we've taken care of the problem through the constitutional channel of the 2008 election. The nation seems to have rejected a clear choice to follow Bush's policies by electing McCain, or accepting Obama, who won convincingly and is now gearing up to make some changes. Both parties seem in agreement that the war is in the endgame stage with troop drawdowns in sight. Neither party seems to object to the need to maintain some force level for awhile to protect the transition to in Iraqi only security force.
So the shoe throwing was unnecessary, mainly interesting as an indication of how we're regarded in the Middle East by natives of the region, judging by the reaction.
The articles follow the discussion.
***
"They'll welcome us with open arms and there'll be dancing in the streets!" Isn't this what they told us in the run-up to brainwashing us into supporting the president's determination to lead us into war in Iraq? "The war will pay for itself using Iraqi oil," I seem to have heard Paul Wolfowitz of Arabia proclaim.
It didn't turn out that way, alas.
So the outgoing president, George W. Bush, goes to Iraq to visit his war, yesterday, and proclaim how good it's been when at a press conference a reporter described as an Iraqi reporting for an Egyptian news outlet doffs his shoes and starts throwing them at the Decider, one by one, who decides to duck. They miss. The reporter is swarmed and beaten. Bush makes light of the incident, a miss being a miss, after all. "All I know is that they were a size ten," he says. The guy on the floor has been yelling "Dog, dog..." at him.
I'm against throwing things at politicians, whether they earn the accolade or not. At the opera they throw bouquets, but not tomatoes, except in Milan, of course, as the penalty for hitting the wrong notes. Bush hit more than his fair share of wrong notes. We were attacked on 9-11 by a terrorist groups, Al Qaeda, hiding out in mountain bases in Afghanistan, so we've been involved in a long war to try to get its leader, Osama bin Laden. Well and good, except for the good part, as we haven't succeeded in capturing or killing him. But Bush used the excitement and panic generated by the attack on the Trade Center in New York to invade Iraq on the pretext that its leader Saddam Hussein, a genuine bad guy who deserved taking out was builidng up nuclear and other WMD which we couldn't allow. Only it turned out to be a con. Saddam wanted his neighbors and domestic enemies to believe that he could kill them with this stuff so they wouldn't try anything sneaky, like take him out. We did instead. It turned out he was running a game that we didn't tumble too until too late. Bush takes the credit for doing something good, like invading and trashing another country to get rid of its bad guy leader. Hooray. We did it. It cost over 4,000 American lives and lord knows how many Iraqis including woment and children.
Along the way, we've kidnaped, tortured, collaterally damaged, and otherwise caused a lot of damage in Iraq, at great expense in money as well as lives. Bush put the financial cost on the nation's credit card, the one we give to new presidents to use as they see fit. If only they'd buy themselves a new car or wristwatch, but no, they want to invade other countries so they can be "war presidents." War presidents are presidents who suddenly have no limit to their power because, after all, they have war powers, just as Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt did. Spare no expense is the rule when we give the president the no-limit Armed Foces credit card and matching "War President wall-certificate." He can do anything and get the four-stars to all line up. Any who don't are ousted, like the recently rehabilitated (by Pres.-Elect Obama) Gen. Eric Shinseki.
The last previous time shoes used as insulting props were used in a world-attention getting forum was in 1960 when Premier Nikita S. Khruschev of the USSR appeared before the United Nations and promised to bury us, using one of his shoe to bang on the podium to impress us with his seriousness of purpose, I suppose.
This time it's an Egyption throwing them at George W. I hope George managed to catch one for his library, or ours.
This is quite a symbolic demonstration. Thank goodness the president wasn't struck. That wouldn't have done anyone any good. An assault is an assault. A criminal offense where I come from.
Nevertheless, as a more-or-less failed demonstration, it still has a certain ring to it. My guess is that Letterman and Leno's writers will have a field day with this and we won't hear the end of the jokes for a week or more.
If I were Egypt, I'd be worried, however.
The WaPo report of the incident, along with a next day followup in the NYT, follows:
Bush Defends Iraq War During a Farewell Visit
Iraqi Journalist Hurls Two Shoes at Bush During Press Conference With Al-Maliki
By Sudarsan Raghavan and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, December 14, 2008; 3:04 PM
BAGHDAD, Dec. 14 -- Arriving in Baghdad today for a farewell visit, President Bush staunchly defended a war that has taken far more time, money and lives than anticipated, saying the conflict "has not been easy" but was necessary for U.S. security, Iraqi stability and "world peace."
But during a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Bush received a taste of the immense resentment many Iraqis feel toward his policies: Just after Bush finished his remarks and said "Thank you" in Arabic, an Iraqi journalist took off his shoes and hurled them both at Bush, one after the other. The incident lent an air of chaos and farce to a trip intended to highlight improving security conditions in the war-torn country.
"This is a farewell kiss!" the man, identified as Muntadar al-Zaidi, a reporter with the Cairo-based network Al Baghdadia Television, yelled as he threw the shoes. Bush had to duck out of the way, and narrowly missed being hit, according to on-scene reports. Maliki reached out his hand to shield the president.
Zaidi started to yell "Dog, dog!" as he was surrounded by security agents, who tackled him to the floor and began to beat him. Zaidi was later removed from the ornate room where the press conference was taking place.
Bush was not injured and joked about the incident. "All I can report is it is a size 10," he said.
Zaidi was seated in the second row of seats, about 12 feet from Bush's lectern. Zaidi, colleagues said, was kidnapped by Shiite militiamen last year and was later released. Throwing a shoe at someone is considered the worst possible insult in Iraq, and is meant to show extreme disrespect and hatred towards someone
Bush landed in Iraq Sunday under a veil of secrecy for his fourth and presumably final stop as president in a war zone that will be central to defining his turbulent presidency.
Air Force One landed in Baghdad at around 4 p.m. local time after a 10-1/2 hour overnight flight from Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington. Bush was scheduled to meet with U.S. troops and Iraqi leaders about a recently completed security agreement, which calls for the withdrawal of U.S. forces by 2011.
After meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani at Salam Palace, Bush hailed the security agreement as "a reminder of our friendship and as a way forward to help the Iraqi people realize the blessings of a free society."
"The work hasn't been easy, but it has been necessary for American security, Iraqi hope, and world peace," Bush said, adding: "I am just so grateful that I had a chance to come back to Iraq before my presidency ended."
Bush's praise for the security agreement is particularly remarkable given that the U.S. administration spent years dismissing proposals for withdrawal timelines as dangerous admissions of defeat. The agreement came after months of hard bargaining by Iraqi leaders, who insisted on a firm date for the removal of U.S. troops. Bush and his aides characterize the agreement as a sign of improvement, and Bush said earlier this week that the fight in Iraq was nearing "a successful end."
His last visit comes against a backdrop of declining violence across Iraq, which the Bush Administration attributes to a buildup of thousands of reinforcements last year. U.S. commanders have also credited the lower levels of violence to a ceasefire by anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and to the Sunni Awakening, in which former insurgents and tribal leaders turned their weapons against Sunni extremists.
Yet attacks have continued and many areas in Iraq remain unstable, particularly in the north. Last week, at least 57 Iraqis were killed in a suicide attack at a popular restaurant outside of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
The improved overall conditions in Iraq have had little discernible impact on the mood of the American public, which has said in polls that the invasion was a mistake. Bush offered in a recent interview that faulty intelligence that preceded the war was his "biggest regret," though he declined to say whether he would have changed course if he had known Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction.
Bush previously traveled to Iraq in November 2003, June 2006 and September 2007. As with those trips, his fourth was surrounded in secrecy. Bush's office had distributed a bogus public schedule that said he would attend a "Christmas in Washington" event tonight at the National Building Museum.
A group of 13 journalists picked by the White House accompanied Bush and senior aides on the trip. They were told about the trip on Friday but were restricted to telling only a spouse and supervisor about the plans. Contrary to usual practice, Air Force One was kept in a hangar at Andrews until shortly before takeoff Saturday night.
The 43rd president made an unusual visit to the press section of the airplane during the flight, wearing a tan windbreaker, black slacks and a baseball cap emblazoned with the number "43," according to a pool report. "What a weak group," Bush joked to the reporters, adding: "Nobody knew who it was."
Talabani, speaking in English, called Bush a "great friend" who had "helped to liberate" Iraq. "Thanks to him and his courageous leadership, we are here," he said.
Bush's visit to Baghdad is part of a carefully orchestrated series of valedictory trips, speeches and interviews aimed at highlighting his administration's record on issues ranging from terrorism to the fight against AIDS. The effort has largely been overshadowed, however, by the ongoing economic crisis and by President-elect Barack Obama's preparations for his arrival at the White House.
Last week in a speech at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., Bush vigorously defended the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and argued that his administration had "laid a solid foundation" for Obama overseas. Bush also urged Obama to "stay on the offensive" against al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
Eggen reported from Washington.
Shoe-Hurling Iraqi Becomes a Folk Hero
Shoe-Hurling Iraqi Becomes a Folk Hero
BAGHDAD — A day after an Iraqi television journalist threw his shoes at President Bush at a news conference in Baghdad on Sunday, his act of defiance toward the American commander-in-chief reverberated throughout Iraq and across the Arab world.
In Sadr City, the sprawling Baghdad suburb that has seen some of the most intense fighting between insurgents and American soldiers since the 2003 invasion, thousands of people marched in his defense. In Syria, he was hailed as a hero. In Libya, he was given an award for courage.
Across much of the Arab world on Monday, the shoe-throwing incident generated front page headlines and continuing television news coverage. A thinly veiled glee could be discerned in much of the reporting, especially in the places where anti-American sentiment runs deepest.
Muntader al-Zaidi, 29, the correspondent for an independent Iraqi television station who threw his black dress shoes at President Bush, remained in Iraqi custody on Monday.
While he has not been formally charged, Iraqi officials said he faces up to seven years in prison for committing an act of aggression against a visiting head of state.
Hitting someone with a shoe is a deep insult in the Arab world, signifying that the person being struck is as low as the dirt underneath the sole of a shoe. Compounding the insult were Mr. Zaidi’s words as he hurled his footwear at President Bush: “This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!” While calling someone a dog is universally harsh, among Arabs, who traditionally consider dogs unclean, those words were an even stronger slight.
The incident has been a source of embarrassment for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who, in a statement on Monday, called the shoe throwing a “a shameful savage act” and demanded a public apology from al-Baghdadia, the independent satellite channel that employs Mr. Zaidi.
“The act damaged the reputation of the Iraqi journalists and journalism in general,” the statement said.
As of Monday night, no apology from the station was forthcoming. Instead, the network posted an image of Mr. Zaidi in the corner of the screen for much of the day. Telephone callers were invited to phone in their opinions, and the vast majority said they approved of his actions.
Opponents of the continued American presence in Iraq turned Mr. Zaidi’s detention Monday into a rallying cry. Support for the detained journalist crossed religious, ethnic and class lines in Iraq — vaulting him to near folk hero status.
"I swear by God that all Iraqis with their different nationalities are glad about this act," said Yaareb Yousif Matti, a 45-year-old teacher from Mosul, a northern city that has is contested by Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen.
In Samarra, one of the centers of the Sunni insurgency against American forces, Mr. Zaidi received nearly unanimous approval from people interviewed Monday.
"Although that action was not expressed in a civilized manner, it showed the Iraqi’s feelings, which oppose American occupation," said Dr. Qutaiba Rajaa, a 58-year old physician.
In Sadr City, thousands of marchers on Monday called for an immediate American withdrawal from Iraq. The demonstrators burned American flags and waved shoes attached to long poles in a show of support for Mr. Zaidi.
In Najaf, several hundred people gathered on a central square to protest President Bush’s Sunday visit to Iraq, and demonstrators threw their shoes at a passing American military convoy.
But praise for Mr. Zaidi was not universal. His action ran counter to deeply held Iraqi traditions of hospitality toward guests, even if they are enemies. And those who have cooperated or welcomed the American presence in Iraq were far more apt to side with the government in their condemnation.
Ahmad Abu Risha, the head of the Awakening Council in Anbar Province, a group of local tribal leaders that started a wave of popular opposition against Al Qaeda fighters in Iraq, said that he condemned what happened “because the American president is the guest of all Iraqis. The Iraqi government has to choose good journalists to attend such conferences.”
“This is unsuitable action by an Iraqi journalist,’ said Kamal Wahbi, a 49-year-old engineer in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya, where pro-American sentiment is strong. “His action served terrorism and radical national extremism. I think he could send the same message by asking Bush embarrassing questions.”
Witnesses said that Mr. Zaidi had been severely beaten by security officers on Sunday after being tackled at the press conference and dragged out. One of his brothers, Maythem al-Zaidi, said Monday that the family had not heard from Mr. Zaidi since his arrest, and that a police officer who picked up Mr. Zaidi’s cellphone at midnight on Sunday had threatened the family.
It was unclear whether Mr. Zaidi had planned his actions beforehand, or whether — as his brother said — he had become infuriated by President’s Bush’s words of farewell to Iraqis and made a spontaneous decision to insult him.
Saif al-Deen, 25, an editor at the Baghdadia television network in Cairo, said Mr. Zaidi had been planning some sort of protest against President Bush for nearly a year.
"I remember at the end of 2007, he told me, ’You will see how I will take revenge on the criminal Bush in my personal way about the crimes that he has committed against innocent Iraqi people," Mr. Deen said. He said he tried to talk his friend out of doing anything at the time, but that "he insisted he would do it.", Around the Arab world, the shoe throwing became the topic of the moment. In Syria, Mr. Zaidi’s face was broadcast on the state television network, with Syrians calling in throughout the day to share their admiration for his gesture. Lawyers volunteered to represent him by the dozen.
In Lebanon, reactions varied by political affiliation, but curiosity about the episode was universal. An American visitor to a school in Beirut’s southern suburb, where the Shiite militant group Hezbollah is popular, was besieged with questions from teachers and students alike, who wanted to know what Americans thought about the insult.
“It’s the talk of the city,” said Ibrahim Mousawi, a Beirut-based journalist and political analyst affiliated with Hezbollah. “Everyone is proud of this man, and they’re saying he did it in our name.”
In Libya, Mr. Zaidi was given a bravery award on Monday by a Libyan charity group chaired by leader Muammar el-Qaddafi’s daughter, Reuters reported.
The charity group, Wa Attassimou, also urged the Iraqi government to release Mr. Zaidi.
"Waatassimou group has taken the decision to give Muntader al-Zaidi the courage award ... because what he did represents a victory for human rights across the world," the group, headed by Mr. Qaddafi’s daughter, Aicha, said in a statement.
what a luck of Bush,
Posted by: wmd | January 29, 2009 at 08:01 AM