In a surprise visit to Iraq yesterday, President Bush held a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. During the press conference near Maliki's office in the Green Zone, 29 year old Iraqi journalist Muntader al-Zaidi stood in the center aisle and with great speed and accuracy, hucked his shoe at President Bush's head. Read the story here. A correspondent for Al Baghdadia, an independent Iraqi television station, Mr. al-Zaidi stood up about 12 feet from Mr. Bush and shouted in Arabic: “This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!” Bush deftly dodged to one side and then dodged to the side again as a second shoe was hurtled at him with the shout, "“This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!” It is sobering to see how strongly positive the response was to this act in the Middle East--an considered a supreme insult in the Arab world.
I have hope for President-Elect Obama's ability to repair our standing in the world, and our capacity to be viewed as a partner in facing global crises. Yet President Bush has led us in such a way that this act and its wide praise across the arab world speak the truth of things as they stand. Read the report of the brother of Mr. al-Zaidi. President Bush, trying to brush off the incident, said, "“All I can report is it is a size 10,” as he continued to take questions and aknowledge the apologies. He also called the incident a sign of democracy, saying, “That’s what people do in a free society, draw attention to themselves.” I would say that how the man is treated now is just as or more important as a sign of democracy. Mr. al-Zaidi's screaming could be heard outside the room throughout the rest of the news conference.
Here's the clip from YouTube.
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