Bush’s Footwear Farewell
In his visit to Iraq this past weekend, President Bush was forced to dodge a pair of shoes chucked at him by an Iraqi journalist.
In case you’ve forgotten, throwing a shoe is quite an insult among Muslims. The last time you might have caught that one? Check this out…about 1:43 into the video.
Let’s hear it for winning hearts and minds, Georgie boy. Mission accomplished.
Bush went on to joke about the incident ignoring the social significance. What a movie moment it might have been if he had asked the Blackwater Storm Troopers to let up the offender and taken a moment to acknowledge the pain that led to this act as well as pointing out that under Saddam this newsman would probably been executed after torture. At least today all he’ll probably face is torture.
Ignoring the social significance or ignorant of it? And while the moment you describe would have been poignant, it’s simply impossible. This administration’s own convoluted and ever-shifting justification for engagement in Iraq guaranteed that a long time ago. (Even by the haziest definition of the Bush Doctrine, it didn’t make sense.) Acknowledging the pain would mean taking responsibility for what we’ve done to contribute to it, which is simply beyond this administration’s ability.
Not saying that the President-Elect will be able to do it either, but I’m curious to see how he’ll face (or dodge) these shoes moving forward.