In Lebanon, Students Find Hero In Iraqi Shoe Thrower

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As former President Carter ended his trip to Lebanon where he spoke to a crowd of students about peace and was only interrupted by generous applause, a soon to be former President was speaking to a crowd of journalists in Iraq when he was interrupted with a kick thrown at him, twice.

Considering the current state of the world, there are probably quite a few people in the Middle East, America and across the world who want to throw their shoes at President Bush, or at least chew him out (for the non-violent types). But Muntadhir al-Zeidi was cocky enough to actually do it.

Sunday evening's spectacle has made the 28-year-old Iraqi shoe-thrower, journalist and Shiite a hero, not the "freedom-hating" Arab the Bush administration has declared a war against.

At the American University of Beirut students exchanged text messages feautring jokes based on the incident and many expressed their support for the al-Zaidi, who is now facing jail after being beaten by Iraqi security. Karim Makdisi, Assistant Professor of Political Studies, gave his perspective on the incident, the serious distrust and frustration of the Bush administration's policies in the Middle East, and the prospect of change under President-elect Obama.

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"It is not a question of not liking American values or being anti-American, which is what is presented in U.S. media. It's anti-American foreign policy and I think there is a very credible and legitimate reason to be distrustful and angry with policy in the region for the last few years."

On the contrary, Makdisi said that in cultural and educational terms, American is more present than it has been for a long time, as universities open up across the region.

"There are all sorts of positive things that come from America but when it comes to American foreign policy it is way, way, way behind the rest of America."

According to the journalist's family, like Bush, he shares a frustration with Iran's involvement in Iraq, but it just so happens, like many Iraqis and Arabs across the region, he also wants the U.S. out too.

Though narrowly missing despite a second shot, he managed to not only steal the spotlight at the press conference (and the likely news cycle that would follow) from the President's control, but to strike a chord with many Arabs and inspire several Facebook groups such as "I'd Throw A Shoe At G.W. Bush If I Could..." which already has 2,024 members and whose wall's most recent ten posts feature users from Albania, Morocco, Turkey and Jordan. Or "Bush shoe thrower - Mundtadhar al-Zaidi fans," with 3,254 fans and a comment that reads, "next time use a Steel capped boot."

The incident has also led to a Web site called http://www.sockandawe.com/ that is run by PopJam, to capitalize over the controversy by inviting users to try to throw as many shoes as they can at President Bush.

The shoe-thrower, who reportedly came to Lebanon for a journalism training course after graduating from Baghdad University, clearly wasn't concerned about the concept of "objectivity" which is a fundamental to any journalistic training, and neither were many of the students at the American University of Beirut.

Comments

[CamJam]

Thank you so much for sharing this excellent article and video.

[DrJohnnySkeptic]

I think that what the journalist did was very courageous and I appreciate that these students are in support of his protest - the journalist should be set free. I think that these students are being very restrained when expressing their opinions, but it was clear that they do not support what has been happening over the past eight years has been unacceptable. But I am surprised that they don't feel more passionately about it.

It sounds as though they are more forgiving of Bush that then are the people of this country. A lot of Americans think that he and his whole administration should be incarcerated. I firmly believe that Bush and Cheney - along with Rumsfeld - be waterboarded in Guantanamo Bay. They have committed horrible crimes and should be punished to the fullest extent.

[Katherineo]

Wonderful hearing the perspective of these students!

[SuperSam]

Just wanted to tell the kind Lebanese folks that your opinions are NOT in the minority :)

[Bocado]

Yep, they certainly aren't.

I'm proud of the guy that threw the shoes at Bush...and I'm a white Christian American.

[Omidal]

American University of Beirut?
This piece is bias or it is not our university. Maybe we are doing a bad job teaching these folks.

[wesinohio]

The American University at, or of Beirut, is a real university. I studied Arabic in high school and thought seriously about going there.

[ZimboChick]

there is another one in Egypt

[lobear00]

Pay attention to what is being said! Its the policies of the people running "Our" nation that the world resents. America is being run into the ground by a "Clown and his puppet". It will fall like so many others from the past.