Truth At Power

Conditions: Wet.


The Man of the Year.

It's rare that we are ever witness to truth being spoken to power. It's certainly even rarer to be witness to truth throwing a shoe at power. My friends, I believe this week has finally given us a truly fittingly poetic ending to President Bush's Iraqi Adventure. While delivering his final press conference in Iraq, standing alongside Iraqi prime minister Maliki, he was interrupted by an outraged man. This man, this wonderful, angry man, named Muntadar al-Zeidi has, I believe, stood up and delivered the most perfect retort to eight years of stupidity and barbarism.

In the middle of the news conference with Mr Maliki, Iraqi television journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi stood up and shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," before hurling a shoe at Mr Bush which narrowly missed him.

Showing the soles of shoes to someone is a sign of contempt in Arab culture.

With his second shoe, which the president also managed to dodge, Mr Zaidi said: "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq."

Mr Zaidi, a correspondent for Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV, was then wrestled to the ground by security personnel and hauled away.

- news.bbc.co.uk/

Presumably by Iraqi police, due to the President's Secret Service being too stunned by the sheer metaphor of what was happening to react to what just happened.

In the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, people calling for an immediate American withdrawal removed their footwear and placed the shoes and sandals at the end of long poles, waving them high in the air. And in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, people threw their shoes at a passing American convoy.

In street-corner conversations, on television and in Internet chat rooms, the subject of shoes was inescapable throughout much of the Middle East on Monday, as was the defiant act that inspired the interest: a huge and spontaneous eruption of anger at President Bush on Sunday in his final visit here. Some deplored Mr. Zaidi’s act as a breach of respect or of traditional Arab hospitality toward guests, even if they shared the sentiment. (Mr. Bush, having demonstrated his quick reflexes, then brushed it off as an expression of democracy.)

“Although that action was not expressed in a civilized manner, it showed the Iraqi feelings, which is to object to the American occupation,” said Qutaiba Rajaa, a 58-year-old physician in Samarra, a Sunni stronghold north of Baghdad.

But many more expressed undiluted pleasure. “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, in northern Iraq.

- www.nytimes.com/

Hey dude, this doesn't have to be just an Iraqi thing. All of us around the world can embrace the idea of throwing shoes at President Bush. And while we must lament the simple fact that both shoes missed their richly-deserving target, we can at least take comfort in a little showing of some human spirit, which has been dormant for too long.



And now that we've had our fun, it's time to pay the bill. Oh, waiter?

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush has apologised to Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki, the prime minister's office says.

Local TV reporter Muntader al-Zaidi wrote a letter to Mr Maliki asking for forgiveness over his "ugly act", prime minister's spokesman Yasin Majeed said.

Mr Zaidi has been in custody since he threw shoes and shouted insults at Mr Bush during Sunday's news conference.
[...]

Mr Zaidi has been charged with "aggression against a president", which carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years.

Yes, fifteen years. Fifteen years for doing something we all vigorously agree with, and applaud him for. For doing something so intrinsically correct, it's already hard to remember that there was a time when someone hadn't thrown their shoes at the President. Fifteen years. For pete's sake, they should be putting this guy's face on a coin. They should be putting Bush in jail for fifteen years. He did manage to dodge both shoes, after all.

Judge Dhiya al-Kenani said the shoes at the centre of the incident had been destroyed by US and Iraqi security agents when they were checked for explosives.

- news.bbc.co.uk/

They blew the shoes up? The shoes, that this guy threw in a fit of impotent honest rage? They blew them up, because they might have had explosives in them? Oh ...my god. That's just, too freaking perfect for words.

Both shoes narrowly missed their target and thumped loudly against the wall behind the leaders.

"Don't worry about it," the president said as the room erupted into chaos.

Iraqi reporters started shouting what Bush later explained were apologies for the incident.

"So what if the guy threw a shoe at me?" Bush said, comparing the action to political protests in the United States.

"If you want the facts, it was a size 10," he joked.

- google.com/hostednews/

"This is a farewell kiss, you dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."


- Peace out.