He spent today in Iraq visiting troops for the last time and conducting a final news conference. As he uttered one more lie (“The war...is decisively on its way to being won.”) a reporter stood up and hurled his two shoes at President Bush. Mr. Bush ducked once, then again, with agility I didn’t know he had.
NPR explained, “In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt.” I’d say we all got the point, without the cultural interpretation. I admit, I had a good laugh watching the clip, since I already knew he wasn’t harmed. It was just shoes, after all.
To be sure, violence is never the solution, no matter how tempting. Ultimately it creates more of the same, more suffering. Tonight there is a shoeless man in Iraq facing the legal consequences of his actions. And wherever he is in the world, President Bush can’t be feeling too good, either. He may strut around, but deep inside he knows he ducked shoes today.
I like how cool Maliki is in those photos, like he wasn't surprised at all.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if Mr. Bush would request that the reporter be released with no pending charges. The act may have been rude and childish, but what's a few shoes between people who value free speech?
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