Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

In the movie Wag the Dog the hurling of shoes was used to show support to a cause.  Cultivated by White House spin doctors, the action was reported in the media and thus spread far and wide.  In a bizarre twist into the "reality" of war propaganda, shoe-hurling has taken another form.  In a carefully controlled media event, after all the participants had been searched several times for possible weapons, a pair of shoes have expresed the scorn and contempt of Iraqis for the US invasion.

Bush, ever the masterful diplomat, skipped passed rehearsed media "answers" expressing the reasons for being there.  It was less important to discuss "an Iraq that can sustain itself, govern itself and defend itself" than to get back to talking about the shoes: 

" It is one way to gain attention. It's like going to a political rally and having people yell at you.  It's like driving down the street and have people not gesturing with all five fingers. It's a way for people to, you know, draw -- I don't know what the guy's cause is. But one thing is for certain -- he caused you to ask me a question about it. I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it.

A digression:  I organised a little event to celebrate Australian Prime Minister John Howard's visit to Adelaide not long after the invasion.  An unintended result of tipping-off media and activists to an unscheduled stop was the arrival of people to throw eggs at Howard's limo.  I wonder what he thought as he heard, from inside, the "thwack, thwack" of the missiles hitting their target?  "No worries, it'll only be eggs" would certainly not have been my first thought.   Anyway, the egg-story made an otherwise fairly unreportable event travel quite a distance.  I'm pretty sure that these were the first missiles thrown at a Coalition leader.

So, while Bush was ducking that first shoe, do you reckon he was thinking "No worries, only a shoe" or "what the hell was that?"  No wonder, then, that discussing the event was more important than explaining his improvements to Iraqi security and freedom.

These journalists here were very apologetic, they were -- said, this doesn't represent the Iraqi people. But that's what happens in free societies, where people try to draw attention to themselves. And so I guess he was effected, because he caused you to say something about it. 

 Bush has obviously forgotten that beautiful component of the "Saddam Toppling" scene that was supposed to be the media's perception of the end of the invasion in Iraq.  According to CNN at that time:

Iraqis had begun tearing down portraits of Saddam and throwing shoes -- a grave insult in the Arab world -- and chipping away at the base of the statue with sledgehammers after a column of Marines advanced into the square Wednesday afternoon. 

A person who witnessed this event once explained to me that much pertaining to the scene was paid for with AK-47 rounds.

It wasn't long after this, it seems, when the U.S., quite aware of the propoganda implications, were removing evidence of another President Bush copping a shoe to the head.  The BBC's Martin Asser explains:

But it is worth mentioning that there is quite a rich history when it comes to shoe-ing incidents involving Iraq and the Bushes.

The first was the floor mosaic at the front door to Baghdad's Rashid Hotel depicting the first President Bush.

Its location meant visitors to the hotel - frequented by top Baath regime officials and visiting VIPs - had to step on George Bush Snr's likeness, in revenge for alleged "war crimes" committed during the 1991 liberation of Kuwait.

The mosaic was reportedly dug up after the US military took over the hotel, following their overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

In that year the Iraqi shoe was much in evidence during popular protests against the fallen Iraqi ruler, being used to hit the posters and statues dedicated to him around the country.

You can be certain that if Bush Jnr understood Arabic,he might have thought twice before belittling and dismissing the event.  Perhaps, in hindsight, he might have been better off had he first been given the media pool translation (perhaps by the apologising Iraqi journos?) of the words hurled with the shoes:

Swoosh!

"This is a gift from the Iraqis. This is the farewell kiss, you dog,

 Whizz!

"This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq,"

 In the worst of bad luck, Bush's comparative of a "two-fingered salute" commits a cultural denigration in belittling the magnitude of the audio-visual, "made for television" epithet.

 And now, according to today's SMH, the U.S. and Iraq have a martyr in custody:

Al-Zaidi's protest was praised in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Jordan. A Libyan charity nominated him for a bravery award. Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam Hussein's former lawyer, offered to represent him; about 200 others also offered their services.

In Sadr City, thousands burnt US flags and called for the release of al-Zaidi. In Najaf, several protesters threw shoes at a US patrol

 

 Once upon a time, as the Coalition forces gathered at the Kuwait/Iraq border, a publicist brought along some representative national flags and placed them in the hands of invading soldiers.  This provided an image of international unity behind the invading of Iraq to sieze Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction.  Now, whether it be by accident or design (I prefer to think the latter) the Iraqi cameraman has given the U.S. a living flag, representing resentment of perceived injustice.   Worse, there's an associated physical action that can be used to show support of Al-Zaidi, something that anybody can do, and with something that can't be regarded as a weapon.  They can throw a shoe.

How many shoes can be thrown at how many American targets?  How many Americans can voice their final disapproval of what Bush has done in their name by taking shoes to their local congressman's office, or to a television or radio station?  How many Australians can dump their old sneakers in front of their local U.S. embassy or consulate, or (as Darwin has used for a substitute) KBR office?

And what's the bet there's a video game on the net in a few days?  How far will the world travel in Al-Zaidi's footsteps?  I can't wait to find out!  It would be, given all the spin and lies the Bush/Cheney Administration has peddled these last eight years, a more-than-fitting method of ensuring that these people depart the world stage with the contempt that they deserve.