Famous Shoes

I think the last time that a pair of shoes got such publicity was in the fairytale of Cinderella. But the shoe attack on President Bush made the Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi almost as famous as Cinderella over night – and popular, at least in the Middle East.


Maybe there are a few or more people in the West who also smile about this zealous action, especially as Mr. Bush was not harmed and was able to retain his sense of humour about the whole story. Actually, I was quite impressed by his ability to duck so swiftly in the face of the approaching flying shoes one after the other.


As for Mr. Al-Zaidi, he has become some kind of Arabic hero following his emotional outbreak. For the people in the Middle East, and I am sure in the rest of the Islamic world, he has expressed what so many people have been thinking for so long ... Mr. Bush deserves some good old bashing for what he has done, or at least for the responsibility he carries for the things that happened during his administration, like starting a war on false information and consequently plunging a whole nation into chaos, or the infamous human rights violations in Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghuraib, to name a few.


However, apart from the obvious legal consequences that Mr. Al-Zaidi will have to face and the admiration he receives from his fellow countrymen and religious brothers, his attack had most probably no effect on his target. Mr. Bush will still insist in the righteousness of his decisions and actions taken in the aftermath of 9/11. But most of all he won’t have to carry any consequences nor worry about the many people who curse him for what happened to them because of his presidency. When talking to the ordinary people in the Gulf I get to hear the same comment on President Bush and his staff all the time, for they are convinced that a just punishment is waiting for them on the Day of Judgement. People’s faith at that moment seems stronger than their anger as they are convinced that a pretty horrible chastisement will be waiting for these people. Who would want to be in the shoes of Mr. Bush then?