Shoeing Bush

The young Iraqi journalist who, sickened by what George W. Bush has done to Iraq and its people, hurled his ultimate cultural insult at Bush, has expressed the feelings not just of Iraqis, but of people worldwide. He has become a hero for his courageous act, and though he faces serious criminal charges, his defense fund will be enormous.

Bush was surprisingly quick in ducking the missiles, perhaps indicating he has been expecting to be a target for some time. His verbal reactions were typically Bush, giving no thought or attention to the motivation or reasoning of the launcher, but instinctively turning the incident into another ludicrous propaganda irony about bringing democracy to Iraq, and dismissing it with his sophomoric humor, "it was a size ten".

Reaction in the US seems to be amused satisfaction. This Iraqi did something many of us wish we could do, tell Bush by an insulting cultural gesture what we think of him. Some of us would do it because he has embroiled us in a needless and incompetent war. Some would do it because he has ruined our economy. Some would cite the damage he has done to our Constitutional system of government. Many of us would do it for all three reasons.

Bush deserves to be greeted with flung shoes wherever he goes from now to the time he is out of office. But if that is not done, at least we know we are near the final month of enduring him and are in the process of telling him "Shoo!"

When Bush pardons the huge groups of people who broke our laws under the direction of his Administration, as I expect he will be doing, he should simultaneously ask the Iraqi government to pardon the shoe thrower. It's the least he can do. And when it comes to doing the right thing, Bush has always done the least.