The hubbub over the assault on our president this weekend has been interesting to observe. Many in the Arab world are reporting this story with something akin to poorly repressed glee. Our president was able to move quickly enough to avoid the shoe, and he even displayed his sense of humor about the incident, pointing out that the man wore a size 10.
I'd really like to know what Muntader al-Zaidi is really so mad about. After all, a byproduct of our act of self-defense in Iraq has been our sponsoring of the development of democratic institutions. It hasn't been a trouble-free experience, but you would think that our president's commitment to a (better than) fair deal for the Iraqi people would be self evident, even to a Baathist loyalist like Mr. Zaidi. Maybe Iraqi citizens do have some worry of violence by other citizens upon their person, but the odds of having their government come in their house and kill their family should be pretty much zero now. That seems like a fair trade to me, but other Arab journalists are beside themselves with the latest insult that our president has had to endure.
Arabs see shoe-hitting and throwing as a grave insult, symbolizing that you are someone to be walked on. Lower than dirt. He also called our president a dog. That's another big deal to Arabs. They see dogs as unclean. You won't find many Arabs donating their time or money at the Humane Society.
There were demonstrations of support for Zaidi in Mosul, Samarra, and Najaf. In Sadr City they burned American Flags and threw their shoes at cops. We meant to export democracy. Judging by the crazed behavior we have ended up with Democrats.
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