Bush Ducks Flying Shoes -- Any Footwear for Donald Rumsfeld?

George W. Bush apparently thought it would be a good idea before he leaves office to go to Iraq and take a final victory lap, a sort of "farewell tour." But he ended up giving the world a set of lasting images that are fitting testimonials to the bloodiest failure of a presidency plagued with thousands of them. "This is a goodbye kiss, you dog!" yelled an Iraqi television journalist, Muthathar al Zaidi, as he hurled both of his shoes right at Bush's head. Ducking nimbly (I guess all those hours in the gym paid off) the shoes just missed the president's face by a few inches but the video of the incident immediately became a viral sensation on the Internet. Given the power of footwear in Iraqi culture to symbolically disgrace people it was a potent insult aimed at Bush. At least two other Iraqi journalists called Zaidi's shoe toss "courageous." The American press might learn a thing or two from the Iraqi journalists. Members of the White House press corps gave Bush a free ride when he brought the nation to war on false pretenses. He didn't even have to duck their softball questions, let alone a pair of their shoes.

Bush's reception in Baghdad came at the same time a long-awaited report from the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction was released showing conclusively that the Bush Administration botched the most important aspect of the whole Iraq operation: rebuilding the country. By the middle of 2008 the American taxpayer had spent over $50 billion on reconstruction aid for Iraq but there has been little progress. Most of the money was frittered away through deception, waste, poor planning, and corruption. The report, titled "Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience," is an internal secret history of the Iraq reconstruction project somewhat similar to the Pentagon Papers of the Vietnam era. The New York Times yesterday summarized its findings: "Tables in the history show that measures of things like the national production of electricity and oil, public access to potable water, mobile and landline telephone service and the presence of Iraqi security forces all plummeted by at least 70 percent, and in some cases all the way to zero, in the weeks after the invasion." And nearly six years later, oil production is still below pre-war levels, electricity is spotty or non-existent in much of the country, and the availability of potable water has increased only modestly. In other words, the biggest U.S. foreign reconstruction project since the Marshall Plan can be chalked up as another miserable failure of the presidency of George W. Bush. No wonder Iraqi journalists are pitching their shoes at him. Even Karl Rove and his "legacy project" are going to have a hard time spinning this catastrophe.

Donald Rumsfeld emerges as a key villain in the report insisting that the United States did not have to worry about rebuilding the country it had destroyed. "If you think we're going to spend a billion dollars of our money over there," he told James Garner, the first viceroy in Iraq, "you are sadly mistaken." What followed was a horrific combination of imperial hubris, arrogance, and incompetence that Rummy himself came to personify.

During the run up to the war there was never any doubt the United States had the power to overthrow the government in Baghdad so the key question always was: Then what? Donald Rumsfeld never had to answer that pivotal question during all of his egomaniacal press conferences because the corporate media never pressed it. Whenever the issue did come up Bush mouthpieces served up nonsense about being greeted with flowers and chocolates or that stabilizing the country would be a cakewalk or the reconstruction would be paid for with oil revenues, etc. Everyone but Rummy seemed to understand that rebuilding Iraq was just as important as toppling the government.

Rumsfeld also surfaces in another recent government document that sought to discover the roles of high-ranking officials behind the widespread torture and abuse of detainees. The Senate Armed Services Committee released an executive summary of a still largely classified report concluding that Rumsfeld, as secretary of defense, bore major responsibility for the abuses committed by American troops at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Thus, a Senate committee has concluded that Rumsfeld is guilty of war crimes for condoning torture as the head of the Defense Department.

"The Senate Armed Services Committee Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody" states in its summary: "Conclusion 13: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's authorization of aggressive interrogation techniques for use at Guantanamo Bay was a direct cause of detainee abuse there. Secretary Rumsfeld's December 2, 2002 approval of Mr. [William] Haynes's recommendation that most of the techniques contained in GTMO's October 11, 2002 request be authorized, influenced and contributed to the use of abusive techniques, including military working dogs, forced nudity, and stress positions, in Afghanistan and Iraq." The executive summary closes by stating: "Conclusion 19: The abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 was not simply the result of a few soldiers acting on their own. Interrogation techniques such as stripping detainees of their clothes, placing them in stress positions, and using military working dogs to intimidate them appeared in Iraq only after they had been approved for use in Afghanistan and at GTMO. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's December 2, 2002 authorization of aggressive interrogation techniques and subsequent interrogation policies and plans approved by senior military and civilian officials conveyed the message that physical pressures and degradation were appropriate treatment for detainees in U.S. military custody. What followed was an erosion in standards dictating that detainees be treated humanely."

This new Senate report raises the simple question: If Private Lynndie England served 521 days in a military brig for her crimes interrogating detainees at Abu Ghraib, shouldn't Donald Rumsfeld do a little time himself for authorizing the behavior for which she was condemned?

Rumsfeld's utter contempt for the U.S. Congress continues unabated. His lawyer, Keith Urbahn, responded to the Senate Armed Services Committee report this way: "Because of irresponsible charges by a few individuals in positions of responsibility in Congress, millions of people around the world have been led to believe that the United States condones torture." Here we have a sleaze-ball lawyer (Urbahn) who represents an unelected former U.S. official (Rummy) attacking the U.S. Congress for doing its job of informing the American people about the actions of their own government. The hubris continues.

The sad truth is that high officials in the Bush Administration knowingly violated U.S. and international law by ordering American military and intelligence personnel to torture prisoners who were terrorism suspects. The use of torture spread like a virus. And by asserting the primacy of the will of the torturer (the State) over the individual, the Bush Administration established itself as being above the law. The "rights" of the individual under the law were stripped away.

Therefore, in my view, the only way to really show the world, especially Iraqis, that the United States is no longer in the torture business is to prosecute criminally Donald Rumsfeld and other top Bush officials, bring them to justice, and sentence them to lengthy prison terms. There must be accountability. Only then could we begin to repair the damage that has been done.

There are not enough shoes in the world to express adequately the outrages the world has endured from the Bush Administration over the past eight years. Don Rumsfeld was once a member of the Illinois congressional delegation. If we can't prosecute Rummy for abetting torture maybe we can link him to Rod Blagojevich and indict him for influence peddling.

Comments

[Joseph A. Palermo - Huffpost Blogger]

Chris and Erica, thank you both for taking the time to comment -- hot topics always draw varied responses -- I didn't have much to add about the Shoe incident, so I segued into Rummy -- I enjoy both or your blogs.

[Bardmess]

Keep shining the light into all those dark places. The Murdoch media empire is not going to do it, and too many people believe what they hear from Limbaugh, Hannity and friends. These entertainers need to be exposed, revealed and completely discredited. So lets hear more about Rummy, Cheney, etc and all their lies and tricks. Good job.

[Erica Heller - Huffpost Blogger]

Hi Joseph,
This is sublime, just perfect.
(My post yesterday on here was" Save the Economy: Throw Your Shoes At Bush".
I like yours better.)

Best to you,
Erica

[Yermammy]

I am getting real tired of the pussyfooting that goes on. Bush & Cheney are guilty of the worst offenses imaginable and we look at Rumsfeld, Blagojevich or whatever flavor of the week is in the media's sights at the moment. It's time to stop ignoring this administration's vast and serious crimes and bring them to justice. The rest of them are merely flunkies that followed the President and Vice Presidents lead. If we don't make an example of them, nothing will change, at all. Period.

[Chris Weigant - Huffpost Blogger]

Joseph -

I think I just wrote the same article you did. I apologize, I hadn't seen yours (which was posted first) while I was writing mine. Just wanted to let you know it was an honest mistake, not intentional.

My apologies (we both reached identical conclusions, and I agree with everything you've written here).

-Chris Weigant

[Joseph A. Palermo - Huffpost Blogger]

I always thought that if Rummy et al. had spent a fraction of the time they spent selling the war -- message force multipliers, shills, generals, and Rove etc. on rebuilding Iraq the catastrophe would have been less catastrophic.

[stevebehindthechapel]

And let's not forget that, according to today's San Francisco Chronicle, those shoes weren't the only zingers flying across the room with some accuracy.

White House press secretary Dana Perino suffered an eye injury in this news conference melee after reportedly being hit in the face somehow with a microphone. Now, that would be a lasting and poignant image; something akin to either black (eye) comedy, or perhaps, the 'Adventures of Milquetoast'... in Iraq.

[huffino]

A simple great point for this article: until the USA shows that there is accountability for the criminality of the Bush administration, it will not regain the position of respect and leadership that it could have otherwise.
The calculus is thus rather simple: protect Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, et. al., or regain a position of worldwide respect and, possibly, leadership.

[newshawk14]

I thought President Bush did an excellent job in dodging the shoes, it's about the only competent
thing he has done since becoming president.

[vegas9999]

They do not like to print anything like this on this site but just so I know someone will have to read this how about competent enough to keep us safe?

[newshawk14]

You really need to read "Against All Enemies" by Richard A. Clarke.

[Yermammy]

With our military, Carrot top could have done the job and kept us safe. Do your hero worshipping somewhere else.

[rsaillant1]

How about we were attacked on his watch? Stop trying to rewrite history, leave that to Bush, Cheney & Co.

Where's Imelda Marcos when you need her?

[TailorMade]

He did have great aim! But more seriously, attacking the President of the US is a pretty serious offense. He would go to jail for life here, but fortunately the Iraqis will make him a national hero.

[mayaexpeditions]

Now he may be made a national hero. But what about under the previous regime of Saddam Hussein? Would he have even DARED to throw shoes? and certainly not at Saddam? I don't agree with Bush's policies or how he handled the Iraq war, but Americans do lose track of the freedom that WASN"T in Iraq before. Now hopefully, they will be able to take back their country and live with freedom.

[kyle006]

I hate Bush as much as the next guy, but really? You didn't see this happen when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to the US, granted there were protests, but no shoe throwing.

[XME]

I don't think there's a comparison...but what if Bin Laden came to the US and held a press conference? Bush is responsible for the deaths of Iraqis, Bin Laden is responsible for the deaths of Americans...THAT is a realistic comparison, and I have a feeling we'd have more than shoes for Bin Laden!

[08politicaljunkie]

Bin Laden is not the leader of nor is he a representative of any country. There is no comparison.

[08politicaljunkie]

Americans cross their legs and often show the soles of their shoes -- that action itself has no meaning, significance or relevance in American culture. In the US, the equivalent protest of throwing shoes would have been to yell an expletive (revile) the person on the microphone -- a sign of disrepect and repulsion.

The shoe throwing was not intended to cause physical harm. Seriously, if GWB had been hit by one of those shoes, how badly would it have hurt him?

[postman606]

What country is Iran occupying?

[johnie2xs]

This incident was as fitting a commentary as any. Having happened where it did, carried out by an Iraqi journalist, gave it even more import.

[jshubbub]

Rummy indicted for war crimes? If only someone in the U.S. had the courage to do it.

[MPeter]

That journalist had such an accurate aim, he nearly got the target. Apparently the shoes were close enough for Georgie boy to tell they were a size ten! I enjoyed watching him duck.

[XME]

Me too...I was a little bummed that he reacted so quickly. = )