Shoes

President Bush in Iraq: If Only He Had Caught Those Shoes…

By Kathleen Troia “K.T.” McFarland
National Security Expert

After I watched the news clip of Bush’s Baghdad press conference last night — the one with the shoe-throwing reporter — I switched to the final installment of the HBO mini-series, “House of Saddam.”

I couldn’t help but note the irony. Was Saddam Hussein’s Iraq the world that reporter wants to return to? Forget about the throwing a shoe, Saddam Hussein would have had that reporter killed merely for writing critically of his regime. Can you imagine what Saddam would have done if that reporter had thrown a shoe at him, not only bonking him, but offering the ultimate Arab insult? That reporter would have been gunned down on the spot and his body fed to the dogs.

According to Salameh Nematt, former Washington Bureau Chief for the respected Arab newspaper Al Hayat, criticizing Saddam Hussein wasn’t the safest thing to do. Neat spent much of his career based in Jordan, exposing Saddam Hussein’s brutalities, and condemning his use of chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war. Saddam put him on a hit list and ordered his assassination, along with a number of other Iraqi dissidents who had fled to Jordan. The only reason Neat is alive today is a friend in Jordanian intelligence service tipped him off to the assassination plot, and Nematt was able to escape the Middle East to make a new career reporting from…America!

Iraqi protestors have argued that the reporter, Muntadar al-Zaidi, was merely expressing his opinion, under Iraq’s free press. I only wish President Bush, who is a great athlete, would have caught those shoes and thrown them back at Mr. al-Zaidi instead of gracefully dodging the shots. Because, in some eyes, Mr. al-Zaidi is the ultimate ingrate who deserved an insult, too.

There is no doubt the Iraq war has gone on too long, and cost too much in lives and treasure of both Iraqis and Americans. But in the rush to condemn President Bush, let’s not forget what President Saddam Hussein was really like. And let’s not forget that a free press and freedom of speech — the privileges Mr. al-Zaidi is so eager to take advantage of — weren’t free. They were paid for by the lives of his fellow countrymen and mine.

As the United States prepares to leave Iraq and Mr. Bush prepares to depart the presidency, let’s hope Mr. al-Zaidi and his colleagues and countrymen not only appreciate that gift, but are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to maintain it.