Placing the Shoes On the Other Foot
Much has been made about the now infamous “shoe throwing incident” with President Bush in Baghdad last Sunday. Some have said that the size tens were precisely what Bush deserved. Some have labeled the incident a geo-political embarrassment. Still others have questioned how the incident could have taken place with security around the President of the United States as tight as it is.
Fareed Zakaria, on the other hand, sees the incident as an indication of the slow and painful, but distinctive forward movement of Iraq as a free and open nation. In a recent interview with CNN, Zakaria stated,
CNN: Do you think the shoe-throwing incident shows that Iraq is becoming an open society?
Fareed Zakaria: Yes, and President Bush was right that it represents a huge advance in freedom in the Middle East. There is quite simply no other Arab country in which that scene could have taken place.
And Iraq has, in other ways, become a reasonably open and democratic society — though still a long way from a liberal democracy as we would define it.
CNN: So not a big deal — just fodder for late-night comics?
Zakaria: Not quite — what the shoe-throwing incident also reminded us of — and this is something that Americans often forget — is that whatever the gains in Iraq recently — and they are undeniable and real — the costs for Iraqis have been huge.
We focus on the costs to America — hundreds of billions of dollars spent, more than four thousand American lives lost there.
But the costs to the Iraqis have been staggering
2.5 million Iraqis — 10 percent of the population — have left the country, and only a few are trickling back. Another 2 million have been displaced from their homes. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed and wounded — and that may be underreported.
Maybe in the long run, if Iraq becomes a more decent society, these costs will fade into memory and the benefits will endure. But for now, as Muntadhar al-Zaidi’s actions showed — it is the costs that remain front and center in the Iraq consciousness.
With approval ratings for the war in Iraq at all time lows, it is unlikely that the costs will fade from any memories, US or Iraqi, any times soon. But as CNN personality and blogger Jack Cafferty noted, further backing Zakaria and Bush’s perspectives,
And whether you agree with the war in Iraq or not, it probably saved this man’s life. If he had thrown his shoes while Saddam was in power he likely would have been executed on the spot.
3 Responses to “Placing the Shoes On the Other Foot”
What a maroon!
And whose job is it to report these costs? A Large News Organization by any chance? One with a headquarter in Atlanta and is on 90% of all cable packages? Like CNN.
Tell that to the Iraqi refugee living in Syria selling his daughter into prostitution so that the rest of the family can eat.
Another marroon!
Yeah but four and a half million Iraqis would still be living in their homes and another half a million would still be alive!
adding to Don Q's point, because we forget so easily.
Under Saddam, there was no terrorism, no religious fundamentalism, no civil war, no roadside bombs. Women went to school at some of the best schools in the Middle East. They could drive and go out in public without fear. Religious headwear was optional. Iran had no influence. The electricity flowed, as did the water, the sewers and the oil.
GreenDreams
I think you are right about Iraq being better off as a country without America fighting a war in their country and forcing Iraq to practice democracy, but I respectfully disagree with your assumption that Saddam Hussein was a good person. Saddam only allowed public meetings if they supported his government. Saddam order the use of chemical weapons on the Kurdish people in the town of Halabja in Northern Iraq in 1988. These chemical attacks killed tens thousands of innocent Men, Women and Children. Rolf Ekeus argues in the Washington Post that “Iraq made use of chemical bombs in air raids against the Kurdish civilian population in northern Iraq. Nerve gases, such as sarin, and mustard gas immediately and painfully killed many thousands of civilians. More than 100,000 later died or were crippled by the aftereffects.” Please reply and let me know if you have changed your mind.