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Shoe-attack reaction reflects tricky U.S. endgame in Iraq
Comedians are having a field day with the shoe assault on President Bush by an angry Arab journalist at a Baghdad news conference on Sunday. Humorist Andy Borowitz, for example, suggests that the New York Yankees want to sign the attacker as a pitcher. Bush laughed off the flying footwear: "It was a size 10." The unscathed president also joked about seeing the man's "sole."
(In sympathy: Iraqis demand the release of the shoe tosser / Ahmad Al-Rubaye, AFP/Getty Images)
All kidding aside, though, the incident has a serious aspect, beyond the obvious question of whether the Secret Service could and should have reacted more quickly between the hurling of shoe No. 1 and shoe No. 2.
Reaction to TV journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi's contemptuous act is a reminder that as important as it is to leave Iraq secure, many Iraqis will never see the United States as their liberator. Sectarian and tribal divisions assure there will be no "victory," in the triumphal sense.
Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday in the Shiite slum of Sadr City calling for the "hero" al-Zeidi to be released. Arabic television stations have been repeatedly showing the footage and running gleeful commentaries.
None of this is surprising. The followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are steadily losing power and have tried to destabilize the government many times. And it's nothing new for anti-American factions to stir resentment.
Further, Iraq's leaders and other reporters at the news conference were justifiably appalled and embarrassed that someone calling himself a journalist would engage in such a crude assault on a visiting U.S. president.
But the disruption of Bush's celebratory tour and the lionization of the disruptor underscore that U.S. endgame in Iraq remains tricky. Iraq is far calmer than seemed possible two years ago as sectarian violence threatened to engulf the country. Whether it will remain stable as U.S. troops withdraw, though, is still in doubt.
Under the new U.S.-Iraqi agreement, all are supposed to be out by the end of 2011. But an interim deadline to have troops leave Iraqi cities by the middle of next year looks problematic, and the U.S. commander in Iraq has said that some troops would remain embedded with Iraqi units for training purposes after the deadline.
That's smart. Abandoning a successful strategy before Iraqis are ready to take over would be foolish. But it is exactly what al-Zeidi's supporters resent.
The irony is that he'll benefit from the change of regime. When Saddam Hussein was in power, insulting him or a visiting foreign leader brought an automatic death sentence. Al-Zeidi was beaten after the incident. If that's not the democratic ideal, it is still emblematic of progress in Iraq: real but inevitably unsatisfying.
Posted at 12:22 AM/ET, December 16, 2008 in Foreign Affairs - Middle East - Editorial, USA TODAY editorial
Shoe-attack reaction reflects tricky U.S. endgame in Iraq
Comedians are having a field day with the shoe assault on President Bush by an angry Arab journalist at a Baghdad news conference on Sunday. Humorist Andy Borowitz, for example, suggests that the New York Yankees want to sign the attacker as a pitcher. Bush laughed off the flying footwear: "It was a size 10." The unscathed president also joked about seeing the man's "sole."
(In sympathy: Iraqis demand the release of the shoe tosser / Ahmad Al-Rubaye, AFP/Getty Images)
All kidding aside, though, the incident has a serious aspect, beyond the obvious question of whether the Secret Service could and should have reacted more quickly between the hurling of shoe No. 1 and shoe No. 2.
Reaction to TV journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi's contemptuous act is a reminder that as important as it is to leave Iraq secure, many Iraqis will never see the United States as their liberator. Sectarian and tribal divisions assure there will be no "victory," in the triumphal sense.
Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday in the Shiite slum of Sadr City calling for the "hero" al-Zeidi to be released. Arabic television stations have been repeatedly showing the footage and running gleeful commentaries.
None of this is surprising. The followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are steadily losing power and have tried to destabilize the government many times. And it's nothing new for anti-American factions to stir resentment.
Further, Iraq's leaders and other reporters at the news conference were justifiably appalled and embarrassed that someone calling himself a journalist would engage in such a crude assault on a visiting U.S. president.
But the disruption of Bush's celebratory tour and the lionization of the disruptor underscore that U.S. endgame in Iraq remains tricky. Iraq is far calmer than seemed possible two years ago as sectarian violence threatened to engulf the country. Whether it will remain stable as U.S. troops withdraw, though, is still in doubt.
Under the new U.S.-Iraqi agreement, all are supposed to be out by the end of 2011. But an interim deadline to have troops leave Iraqi cities by the middle of next year looks problematic, and the U.S. commander in Iraq has said that some troops would remain embedded with Iraqi units for training purposes after the deadline.
That's smart. Abandoning a successful strategy before Iraqis are ready to take over would be foolish. But it is exactly what al-Zeidi's supporters resent.
The irony is that he'll benefit from the change of regime. When Saddam Hussein was in power, insulting him or a visiting foreign leader brought an automatic death sentence. Al-Zeidi was beaten after the incident. If that's not the democratic ideal, it is still emblematic of progress in Iraq: real but inevitably unsatisfying.
Posted at 12:22 AM/ET, December 16, 2008 in Foreign Affairs - Middle East - Editorial, USA TODAY editorial
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