They hate us for our shoes. Somewhere in what passes for the deeper regions of President Bush’s mind might come that reassuring giggle of a thought as he once again rationalizes away Iraqi ingratitude for the benevolence he has bestowed upon them. Ever at peace with himself, despite many obvious reasons not to be, Bush quipped, ‘I didn’t know what the guy said but I saw his sole.’ But the lame jokes no longer work.The shoe-throwing Iraqi journalist is now a venerated celebrity throughout the Mideast, and his words to the president – ‘this is the farewell kiss, you dog’ – will stand as the enduring epitaph in the region on Bush’s folly, which is the reality of his claimed legacy of success in the war on terror. That and the shoe-thrower’s devastating follow-up as he threw his second shoe, ‘This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq,’ a reminder that we have used much deadlier force than a shoe in the shock-and-awe invasion once celebrated in the American media as a means of building respect for democracy.
