President Bush and the Flying Shoes: A Cautionary Tale
They hate us for our shoes. Somewhere in what passes for the deeper regions of President Bush's mind might come that reassuring giggle of a thought as he once again rationalizes away Iraqi ingratitude for the benevolence he has bestowed upon them. Ever at peace with himself, despite many obvious reasons not to be, Bush quipped, "I didn't know what the guy said but I saw his sole." But the lame jokes no longer work.
The shoe-throwing Iraqi journalist is now a venerated celebrity throughout the Mideast, and his words to the president -- "this is the farewell kiss, you dog" -- will stand as the enduring epitaph in the region on Bush's folly, which is the reality of his claimed legacy of success in the war on terror. That and the Iraqi's devastating follow-up as he threw his second shoe, "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq," a reminder that we have used much deadlier force than a shoe in the shock-and-awe invasion once celebrated in the American media as a means of building respect for democracy.
This was more than a presidential photo op gone wildly awry. One might suspect that the weekend event was designed originally to draw attention from the Friday release of the long-awaited Senate Armed Services Committee's report on Bush's torture policy. A report that unanimously concluded that it was the White House and not a few bad apples that "damaged our ability to collect accurate intelligence that could save lives, strengthened the hand of our enemies, and compromised our moral authority." The report, endorsed by all Republican senators on the committee, including ranking minority member Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., cited former Navy General Counsel Alberto Mora's testimony that "the first and second identifiable causes of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq--as judged by their effectiveness in recruiting insurgent fighters into combat--are, respectively the symbols of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo."
Not only has the Bush administration subverted the image of the United States' commitment to the rule of law and justice, but it has done similar damage to our reputation for economic efficiency. On Sunday, The New York Times reported on an unpublished 513-page federal history of the Iraq reconstruction, which the article termed "a $100 billion failure by bureaucratic turf wars, spiraling violence and ignorance of the basic elements of Iraqi society and infrastructure."
This invasion, according to then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, was supposed to be financed by Iraqi oil money, but instead has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $1 trillion. The results, as the Times' account of the report put it, are abysmal: "The hard figures on basic services and industrial production compiled for the report reveal that for all the money spent and promises made, the rebuilding effort never did much more than restore what was destroyed during the invasion and the convulsive looting that followed."
No wonder then that we are perceived as blundering bullies by so many in the region that we claimed to be interested in modernizing. That an Iraqi journalist, whose family had been victimized by Saddam Hussein and who was kidnapped by insurgents while attempting to work as a TV reporter, came to so loathe the American president, as does much of the world, should serve as the final grade on the Bush administration. It should also serve as a caution to President-elect Barack Obama as he seeks to triangulate withdrawal from Iraq with an escalation of the far more treacherous attempt to conquer Afghanistan.
In the end, it does not matter that our claimed intentions appear noble if our practice on the ground adds up to a mélange of brutal incompetence. It is significant that increased troop deployment to Afghanistan was recently announced by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who will hold that same post in the new administration. This is the same Gates who in his 1996 memoir details how, as a member of the Carter administration, he was involved in supporting the mujahedeen Islamic fighters against the secular government in Kabul six months before the Soviet invasion.
These foreign adventures always start out so wonderfully: We will be greeted as liberators, democracy will flourish, the West will be safer, and instead we end up ever more scorned. The media traveling with Bush reported it as a victory of sorts that no reporters in Kabul threw shoes at our president during his press conference there. So much for lowered expectations.
Robert Scheer is the editor of Truthdig, where this article originally appeared.
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Thought I had posted a comment but guess not. Bush has acted as if the shoe throwing incident was some sort of amusement, not to be taken seriously, just as he has in regard to American deaths in Iraq and in Afghanistan, in spite of his denials. To consider such incidents as just light demonstrations of unhappiness with the American presence keeps him and maybe others in his administration....but of course not Cheney....from burdening themselves with any sort of guilt. In reality, the shoes were thrown not just at Bush and his policy but at our entire team of decision makers for foreign policy, and perhaps to all Americans who allowed this jerk to remain as our president.
Shoot, dubya is the king of lowered expectations. That's what his whole life has been about.
As far as I'm concerned, the real important sentence here is: 'The report, endorsed by all Republican senators on the committee, including ranking minority member Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., cited . . . that "the first and second identifiable causes of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq--as judged by their effectiveness in recruiting insurgent fighters into combat--are, respectively the symbols of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo."'
Particularly important in view of the role that Dick Cheney recently claimed playing in approving torture.
It's a good thing for the terrorists that we did have Abu Ghraib and Gitmo...
Or else terrorists wouldn't even EXIST now!
One also has to wonder exactly HOW they came to that conclusion. Did they ask the terrorists?? :^/
Michale....
Does that logic work on anybody?
Since there were terrorists before torture, than torture must not create terrorists?????
What if there were Multiple causes of terrorism?
Wow, what a concept.
ALL the experts say you are wrong Mich.
Torture Creates Unlimited waves of new Terrorists.
Why don't you tell us you personal torture story that makes you know better?
Actually John McCain and Lindsey Graham did interview many of the detainees. One of the higher ranking ones, as he described on This Week this past Sunday, indicated two factors influenced their recruitment in to Iraq after we invaded: (1) the immediate recognition that American troops were allowing lawlessness all over the country and (2) later the response to Abu ghraib. So yes they did. You should congratulate Bush for helping Al Qaeda much more than Osama Bin Laden himself could.
an ignominious end to an ignominious presidential reign. the global catharsis continues...
Our fundamental problem in the world has been that those in our society whose decisions affect the nation and the rest of the world in general see themselves as being greater than they are and the rest of the world, especially the so called the "third world," as lesser than they are. We need to be realistic about ourselves and others and for our own sake and other we should keep in mind the concept of "Blowback," A CIA term referring to "the unintended consequences of policies that were kept secret from the American people.”
We should also read the following books by a true American patriot, Chalmers Johnson, professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego:
Blowback: The Cost and Consequences of American Empire. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2000.
Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2004. and
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2006.
But if we can see the Earth as our home; have truly a government of the people, by the people, and for the people; and our nation as a member of the human community concerned for the well being of all humanity then the American Republic can go on for ever and ever.
as the exhilaration of the catharsis the shoe incident provided subsides, it is my hope that all people give thought to the shame it represents. Worldwide, there is much shame to be shared by everyone. Those who rejoice at the shoe incident will, I hope, find a moment of shame in their joy at the sad event. Those who are offended by the shoe incident, I hope, find a moment of shame as they understand its origins. The true catharsis comes when we all recognize our collective shame at our treatment of each other. Once we reach the bottom or our shame, we can begin our climb to improved humanity.
Three cheers for the journalist! He did what 3/4 of the world has wanted to do, and in the process given Bush a true legacy moment.
For the rest of US history, he will be remembered for this incident, elected in protest in 2000, and has shoes thrown at him as he left in 2008. The photos will be in history books for decades. What a shining moment for Bush, He ducked and still got a black eye!
I suppose that one last "surprise" visit to the calamity zone is one way to get attention.
John,
You expose the entire lie of a victory tour by Bush.
If things were as the Bush administration and others (especially in the media) would like Americans to believe, then Bush would have announced his visit to the region, not sneak in like some coward, and would have received a welcome like any other head of state, like Iran's President did in Iraq.
Bush tried to stage an event, where the Iraqi journalist wasn't given the memo.
Oh puullleeeesseee..
One guy throws his shoes and, all of the sudden, that is indicative of the entire Arab world?
How about the dozens of reporters who apologized to Bush for the actions of the loon? How come THEY aren't indicative of the entire Arab world??
Michale.....
LOL. Because those *dozens* of reporters are not heros in the Arab world.
Yea, well the 9/11 hijackers are also "heroes" in the Arab world.
I love the company you keep.... NOT...
Michale.....
We all reap what we sow. Bush thought he would plant seeds of hate and derision and get flowers in return. He is so oblivious to so many things that it is so scary that the American people gave him a mandate, not once but twice. Before Obama he had one the highest approval ratings for a US president. I am glad this episode happened.
Maybe he had the highest approval right after 9/11/01. now he's at shoe level
Very, Good!
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