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Arab Blogosphere Erupts Over Shoegate
Karim Kadim/AP
In the Arab world, the shoe-throwing incident prompts a mix of outrage, applause, and bad jokes. Plus: Translating the best cartoons.
Arab reaction to the shoe-throwing incident at President Bush’s Baghdad press conference on Sunday was a mixed bag. While some hailed reporter Muntather al-Zaidi as a hero for hurling his shoes at the US president, others thought the attack was a disgrace to Iraq and to the journalistic profession.
Iraqi blogger Nibras Kazimi, who was clearly outraged, wrote that he would “seriously consider beating the crap” out of Zaidi, and added that he’d like to “take one of his [Zaidi’s] shoes…and stuff it in his mouth.” The Iraqi government issued a sharp condemnation of the reporter’s “barbaric and shameful behavior.”
By contrast, Abdul-Bari Atwan, the Palestinian editor of the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi said Zaidi’s action was “an appropriate farewell to a war criminal.”
The chief irony of this embarrassing episode is that it provided real proof of Bush’s success in transforming Iraq into a democracy.
Most Arab newspapers carried the “flying shoes” story prominently on their front pages, with commentators split on the implications of the weird assault.
Elaph.com, a prominent online newspaper, noted that Afghan journalists who attended a press conference Bush gave later at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan were allowed to keep their shoes on. That event proceeded without incident.
Shoe jokes were being exchanged throughout the Arab world via emails and text messages. One said Israeli forces on Monday busted “a secret shoe factory belonging to Hamas in Gaza and arrested several shoe-makers.” It noted that “many of the shoes confiscated were size 10 (EU44)," the same size as the pair used against the US president.
Beating someone with a shoe is the ultimate insult in Iraqi and Arab culture. Iraqis beat the fallen statue of Saddam Hussein with their shoes after the collapse of the dictator’s regime in April 2003. Muslims are required to take off their shoes and leave them outside before they enter a mosque. This often leads to worshippers losing their shoes to others who mistake them for their own.
Iraqi journalists quoted in the Arab media said Zaidi was a Baathist supporter of Saddam who works for the Cairo-based al-Baghdadia, an anti-government Iraqi TV station. They blamed the Iraqi government for the security lapse of allowing someone like him into the press event. The TV station issued a statement distancing itself from the incident, saying Zaidi’s action was not representative of the station’s views.
While Bush remains unpopular in most of the Arab world, some comments on blogs and websites pointed out that the Iraqi journalist would have been summarily executed had he attempted something similar on Saddam.
The bizarre incident also drew some admiration for the quick reflexes that allowed Bush to successfully dodge both shoes hurled at him. But the chief irony of this embarrassing episode is that it provided real proof of Bush’s success in transforming Iraq into a democracy. Not that the president contemplated freedom of expression going this far.
Blogger Kazimi predicts an ultimate vindication of Bush’s Iraq war: “Give it twenty years or so, and a main thoroughfare in Baghdad will be called George Bush Avenue. Or maybe that's just the name of my driveway. Anyway, there will be a big sign and all.”
Salameh Nematt is the international editor of The Daily Beast. He is the former Washington bureau chief for the international Arab daily Al Hayat, where he reported on US foreign policy, the war in Iraq, and the US drive for democratization in the broader Middle East. He has also written extensively on regional and global energy issues and their political implications.
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pacifistgunslinger
Which brings up an interesting point: where were all these brave heroes when Saddam was in power? Probably part of the 98% that voted for him.
numapompilius
The journalist's action was inelegant. At the same time, undeniably, he scored a kind of scoop.
Bush though was unwise. He forgot that a criminal should never revisit the scene of his crimes.
CracklinMcSnaps
"But the chief irony of this embarrassing episode is that it provided a real proof of Bush's success in transforming Iraq into a democracy."
Good Point.
tb1010
um... I think they were in Abu Ghraib? (e.g. http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/oped/alt/04/abughraib.html) The real questions are when do the shoes show up on eBay and when does the guy get disappeared by the Iraqi government.
mbardon
Can we PLEASE stop suffixing every political scandal name with -gate? Please? It only made sense the first time because that was the NAME OF THE HOTEL. Do these headline writers think they are being cute and inventive? Because I assure you, it isn't.
Stancher
George W. Bush is such a ridiculous embarrassment for our country.
AndreainNY
Actually, that shoe-throwing Saddam-supporting reporter is an embarrassment to the Arab world.
aealtizer
Irony? That people in free countries protest?
There are lots of explanations as to why George Bush has been treated so shabbily, but this 'reporter' like Gov Blagojevich has had his corrupt system disturbed and he's irrationally self righteous.
ScottRose
Iraq is no more "democratic" today than it was when Saddam was in power. It is just a question of which groups of people are enjoying greater liberties than others, why, and how the dominance of those groups within the society is viewed by the Iraqis and the world.
Under Saddam, ironically enough, gay people just to cite one example lived in less fear for their daily survival than they do in present day Iraq. You can't participate in a democracy if, because your sexual orientation has become known to your town or city, your own family congratulates those that finish you off in an honor killing. This is going on in Iraq; hardly anybody cares. The plight of gay Iraqis is barely if at all reported on in the United States. There is nobody of influence in the Bush administration that cares about this question in the least. Gay rights in the Arab world are not flourishing, whether they liked Saddam, whether they like Bush, they are not genuinely interested in human rights; they are interested in seeing their own narrow agendas fulfilled.
Mob rule and democracy are not the same phenomenon.
And, it is infantile and sub-civilized to go looking for a "vindication" of a war.
Alexius
This incident symbolize the change of president, telling Bush to 'shoo off'. It reflects the gratitude of the welcoming Iraqese for the years of turmoil. And more importantly, it is a personal thank you and goodbye gift from a bitch.
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http://thesuffocate.blogspot.com/
http://alexius-locker.blogspot.com/
Tulku2
Dana Perino shows up at a press conference with no make-up today so as to show off a slight bruise that could have easily been covered up. No swelling at all.
So one has to ask... Why would she do that? My guess is there was just a little too much fellow feeling between the Arab and American street yesterday. Quick... pull out a woman with a black eye so as to gin up some anger.
truthynesslover
We are all shoe throwers now!Too bad he missed!
chekov
ScottRose; you are right.
I would just add that the status of women in these societies is equally horrendous, and frequently worse. Genital mutilation and child marriage is commonplace, to only name two.
Few give a damn, or, are scared to death of offending these Arab and/or Muslim countries, so stand by while these crimes are being committed in frightening numbers.
elpaso
First the rock throwers and now the shoe throwers. Whose idea was it to spend a trillion dollars on this place?
drfeelgood
Now playing nationwide in Iraq, George Bush in "Sole Man".
Thank you.
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