Bush, Iraq, and the shoes
What an Iraqi journalist’s disrespectful gesture says about President Bush’s legacy
“So much for victory laps,” said Thomas Defrank in the New York Daily News. During President Bush’s farewell visit to Iraq on Sunday, an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at him, saying, “This is a farewell kiss, you dog!” (click here for MSNBC video via Think Progress). Bush tried to laugh off the insult—“quickly dubbed a shoe-icide attack”—but it “was an unwelcome metaphor for a president whose legacy in large measure will be defined by the unpopular war, now in its sixth year.”
This incident was indeed symbolic, said Boston Herald editor Jules Crittenden in his blog. You see, nobody ever dared show such disrespect for Saddam Hussein, whose despotic regime Bush toppled. The only reason this unhinged journalist was able to show such violent disrespect to a visiting dignitary and live to tell about it is that Iraq is now a democracy.
It’s hard to deny, though, that this was more than a little embarrassing for Bush, said Sudarsan Raghavan and Dan Eggen in The Washington Post. The shoes started flying just after he explained why, despite all the difficulties, the war was necessary for “world peace.” But hurling shoes and calling someone a dog are about the worst insults possible in Iraqi culture, so the lingering image from what’s likely to be Bush’s final visit to Iraq will be this raucous display of “local resentment” over civilian deaths and American mistakes.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Trump's actions cut a wide swath across Hawaii's economy
In Depth The state's tourism and farming sectors are two of the largest hit industries
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
5 immersive books to read this April for a brief escape
The Week Recommends A dystopian tale takes us to the library, a journalist's ode to her refugee parents and more
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
'The winners and losers of AI may not be where we expect'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published