Bush Dodges Shoes In Iraq

I suppose it was bound to happen..

President George W. Bush was doing a farewell press conference in Iraq when one of the journalists, Muntader al-Zaidi threw his black shoes at Bush and screamed "This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!"

For Arabs, hitting someone with the sole of your shoe - or in some cases even inadvertently pointing the soles of your shoes at someone - is considered a deadly insult. Likewise referring to someone as a dog, an animal Muslims consider unclean.

I'll avoid the obvious jokes (tempting though they are) and make a few quick points about this.

It's important to recognize that in a lot of the Arab world, and even in Iraq, al-Zaidi is a hero. Spending a trillion dollars and 4,000 precious lives to establish a Shiite Islamic republic hasn't made a bit of difference.

I'll never forget talking to a Marine pal just back from Iraq who told me that the Iraqis commonly referred to the Americans as 'the Jews' as in " You can't go there that way, the Jews have set up a roadblock."

Obviously, not all Iraqis feel that way...the Kurds (G-d knows why after how Bush and Condi Rice treated them)and a number of Sunnis still look on the Americans with great fondness, but to a lot of Iraqis, 'Jews' we are, with all that implies.

In spite of my feelings about the current occupant of the White House, to see our president and our country disrespected in this way after all the blood and treasure spent to liberate these people and provide them with something resembling a free society doesn't do wonders for me...but then, I understand the mentality we're dealing with.

No, to them, we are indeed infidel dogs,kaffirs and ferenghis and so it will remain, mashallah. They have no regard for us or our way of life, and as with most honor/shame cultures, our attempts to help have brought forth not gratitude, but resentment.

If we were going to be this involved with Iraq at all, we should have looked to the Ottomans for a model on how to run Iraq. They enjoyed five centuries of peaceful rule here, treating the country as a colony, bleeding the Arabs white with taxes and treating any disturbances with an iron hand. The locals would have understood and appreciated that a lot better.