I think there's reason to be very concerned about the fallout from the shoe throwing incident in Iraq. It's fun to joke about and all ("Bush hasn't dodged anything that fast since the draft!"), but the consequences are likely to be grave. The act of defiance at an American President has galvanized opinion in the Middle East. I don't want to call him Muntadar the Plumber, but that's the basic dynamic.

Now we're learning that this guy, seen as a hero by a non-trivial segment of the Arab world, has been charged with assault (on the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, not Bush), thrown into Camp Cropper prison and tortured. The BBC confirmed this.

There have been two days of mass demonstrations calling for Al-Zaidi's release. The news that he's being tortured will only exacerbate matters.

The fact that the charge against Maliki actually worries me most. To the extent that the central government is blamed for torturing and detaining Al-Zaidi, the Sadrists, already full-throated in their support, may see their anger turn to violence. This is an unstable country without full popular support for the ruling leaders. If a mass movement erupts around Al-Zaidi, the result would be complete chaos. And the Sunni insurgents, even the Kurds, may find an opening to resume hostilities.

It's made worse by the rumblings that the US won't stick to their withdrawal commitments as outlined in the status of forces agreement. Maliki and the US will be blamed for scamming the Iraqi people and keeping them under permanent occupation. This silencing of dissent will become a powerful symbol. There aren't a lot of steps from there to violence.

This is why Bush must forgive Al-Zaidi and work to get him removed from prison. It won't restore his public profile in the Middle East, but it would quell a threatened riot and at least put some weight behind the principle of free expression. Thers says it best:

"Mr. President, please publicly forgive Muntadhar al-Zeidi for throwing shoes at you, and please state, unequivocally, that the Iraqi journalist should not face charges or endure official harassment for his actions. If American values mean anything at all, this is the right thing to do [...]

"In the United States, "insulting a visiting head of state" is not a crime. Nor should it be. Throwing a shoe could certainly be illegal, and hustling a shoe-thrower out of a press conference would certainly be understandable. But pressing charges?

"We value vigorous dissent in this country. So much so, that even when objects are publicly hurled at controversial speakers, we do not necessarily prosecute, and if we do, we do not consider the "insult" the specific crime at issue. Property damage as a result of such an incident might be a felony, but never an "insult." [...]

"President Bush, you need to avoid this "big problem." Do this one thing, this one small thing, for the sake of peace. Forgive Muntadhar al-Zeidi and call for his immediate release, and call for him to be protected against all forms of official harassment.

"Do this one right thing before you leave."

http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/15/president-bush-please-publicly-forgive-muntadhar-al-zeidi/

Let me second the call. Do not listen to know-nothings calling this man an "ingrate" for not appreciating American sacrifice. That's nonsense. We have invaded this country under false pretenses, killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions, allowed 70% to live without access to water or electricity, and brought a once-great society to rubble. It is perfectly human to feel frustration and rage.

And if you refuse to open your mind enough to think of that, think about Baghdad on fire for the last month of your Presidency. Think about security gains lost. I'd ask you to think about the dead, but you won't, so think about your legacy.

These things have the tendency to quickly spiral out of control. The safety of perhaps tens of thousands of people is at stake. Please, Mr. President, you have the power to fix this.

"Please, Mr. President, you have the power to fix this."

Of course Bush should call for his release but he won't.

Maliki should give him a pardon.

Contradictory impulses by occupiers normally come into conflict on situations like that with Mr. al-Zaidi.

1. Letting al-Zaidi go tarnishes the untouchability image of the man leading the occupation.

2. Continuing to hold al-Zaidi enhances his image as a martyr.

If history is any judge, the Bush people will go with #2 and find a way to keep the man locked up a long time. #1 Would be better for Iraq, but since when did Bush care about Iraq much?

I would be the first to say that President Bush's own consciousness manifested that shoe throwing. Hearing him speak afterward he was not angry at all. At some deeper level I think he understood what it was all about, I think it was a bit of therapy for many to see him humbled.

I would like to point out the folly of blaming one man for all the worlds problems, that is exactly what the real culprits want, for all to blame the front man, the scapegoat.

The collective culpability dwarfs his individual culpability.

Congress is much more culpable then the president, their collective power far surpasses Bush. The citizens of the nation are much more culpable then congress their collective power far exceeds that of congress.

There are very few if any on the planet fit to judge President Bush, and those that are fit would not.

If we were to pin the fault on a specific group, it would be the citizens that allow themselves to be divided by the trivial and the use of labels such that they do not give their attention to the crucial.

Bush actually said, "I don't know what his cause is." Can you believe that?

and was "getting attetion"

As if this guy was some goof jumping up and down and waving to his mom behind a local TV weatherman or something. Bush is really shockingly clueless. I know they keep him in a bubble, and I know he's not terribly bright, but he can't really be that stupid... can he?

"I don't know what his cause is."

I almost fell off the sofa when I heard him say that. WTF?

The most telling remark to me was one of the W's early comments saying "...It's one way to gain attention". The shoe thrower was a guy angry over what the USA did to his country. What W saw instead was a radical who is out to protest everything in site for the sake of protesting. You know the type, those who claim to be progressive/liberal/socialist and join some of the 'professional protester' groups around campuses (I don't mean to criticize all members of such groups, just those who are there purely because they like to protest).

After all these years, W still doesn't understand what he did to Iraq.

What I heard smirky say is "I don't know what his beef is".

I'm reminded of Winston Churchill who got into trouble in England when he got back from South Africa and said that he would be fighting the British if he were South African. If we were the occupied country and someone chucked a shoe at the head of the occupier it would unite us even with wingnuts.

Broken ribs and internal bleeding per BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7785338.stm

I doubt they were even trying to get info out of him. They just beat him up.

Hopefully this event will galvanize the population. Maliki's government has been moving toward authoritarianism at top speed, clashing with the Kurds, setting up loyalist paramilitary militias in the Iraqi north, employing Shiite strike brigades to detain anybody who is seen as a threat to the Maliki govt', such as many leaders of the Sunni Awakening movement, who have been arrested in the last few months. The new direction toward dictatorship needs to be checked now, and it is up to the Iraqi poeple, the US loves supporting brutal strongmen, so they won't do anything to stop this trend.

The three year lag time allows Maliki to use American muscle to consolidate his power. But a popular movement could upset that. And that's what I think may be forming. Further, a Sadrist Iraq has little difference from a Maliki-led Iraq from a human rights perspective.

When they throw shoes with a shout it means time to get out.

Unfortunately cultural damage control is beyond the understanding of George and his handlers.

Dear Deepak,

It is easy to get caught up in the drama, and I don’t suppose there is anything wrong with it since it is a part of the phenomena of life and separate being and for some odd reason people go to the movies to watch them and for sure the news carries the world’s drama to be consumed by our minds.

When we are caught up in a drama and especially one from afar with it’s tendrils reaching into our immediate expereince and affecting those around and connected to us it is easy to lose sight of the divine context.

I think it accurate to say that President Bush was a collective manifestation, anyone that has entered the consciousness of many minds is a collective manifestation of those minds, the public persona not the private persona. There is not a single individual on the planet past the age of innocence that is not complicit in the collective crime, for if and only and just only, a failure to become informed and give voice, to act on fear, to divide with a label. For having done not what should have been done, for what always happens is what should happen, but what could have been done to make things different, producing another outcome. As such we are limited only by our level of consciousness as to what we could do, and all that happens should because it will provide the impetus to evolve our consciousness so that what could have been done would have been done in the future. Although everything done is divine, so are the consequences desired or undesired.

There is one thing, and only one thing that should be judged, and that is a thought. What is it’s source truth or a fiction? What is it’s impetus love or fear? All else judge not.

The truth can never divide us, only a fiction can.

The ego would want us to place our attention on Bush, rather than the actual application of the wisdom gained from the past while any attention that dwells there on blame robs one of the present, and any future bounty.

Sometimes writing is a safe way for to vent, the only thing that could get harmed is the ego, and if you look at this event with the shoe throwing it was in a way allowing the whole world to vent, and perhaps more of a divine comedy you see because lucky for all it was just a shoe so there was no tragedy. You see the world both threw shoe and had the shoe thrown at it.

Wishing you all your highest good.

Iraq was a nation ruled by fear and it will be a tragedy for all those that died to have it ruled by fear again. For the love of those lost, so that their death will not be a tragedy let it be ruled by compassion and wisdom in unity. For the whole of the world and all that gave their lives or had them taken, their deaths will not have been a tradgedy if by their cause, by Peace the world is taken.

Remember your Vows of none violence!

These include violent thoughts even about trouble makers.

Simon xx

Ref #11

Richard

That is a very profound observation.

Many people are not aware of their own Drama; When one begins to have the insight to witness drama taking place and not react to it conditionaly - then they are on the path to creation.

Its not easy to do this of course as for most people they are their drama and to step outside of that would be like having an out of body experience. I constantly spend time outside of my drama and sometimes that state begins to be my natural state and the Drama state that we all find ourselves caught up in is a synthetic state.

Eventually I will remain in the other state permenantly but until then lets enjoy the drama..

LOL

love

Simon xx

I can't help but think that this is the most fitting of endings to Bush's failed presidency. If he had been assassinated it would have lead to many problems, but this was just the right amount of non-violence with maximum insult. I would think that most of the world would have offered up their best patent leathers. Bush just laughed it off and said he wasn't bothered by it. I think that has been his problem from the start, he's not bothered by how his actions have affected so many people.

PS. Before the "collective guilt", "nobody/everybody-is-equally accountable" gang gets offended let me reiterate that Bush is the captain of the ship. A 100 member Senate has the power to empower the President and declare a war, but ultimately it is the Office of the President's agenda. Moreover you had the option to redeem yourself over a 8 year period.

Some of you who maybe concerned with a lack of civility towards Bush might need to understand that, if, those in power, or those in the press would have treated Bush as the dipshit that he was in 2001 then we could have averted this disaster. Everyone was earnestly being civil and treating Bush like a real politician deserving of respect when it was painfully clear to the rest of us that he was a sociopath.

Those who are hung up on being civil and playing nice might like to read up on yourselves in Robert Altemeyer's book "The Authoritarian Specter" on authoritarian personalities.

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/ALTAUT.html

It will be like looking in a mirror.

Dear Simon, thanks for the feedback.

You know it is like when you are in a movie theatre and the person next to you is so wrapped up in the drama and they are reacting emotionally to the fiction having become caught in it. They may be becoming quite upset even crying or getting angry and you reach over and tap them on the shoulder and remind them it is just a movie.

Of course life as a movie is from a divine context not a human context. If everyone was living from a divine context the movie would be much different, more of a comedy adventure with some natural drama not human created drama.

So we have people not just pretending to experience injustice as on the silver screen, but they are really experiencing injustice. Any child on the planet that loses their mother or father not due to natural causes is both a tragedy and an injustice and we all share as contributing authors to that story. Any child on the planet that is hungry with no food available is suffering an injustice, and no single one is to blame but everyone is responsible.

Not getting caught up in the drama is a daily wrestling match for me but I am getting much quicker at pinning my opponent.

Lastly I would suggest everyone get out their Messiah handbooks and become One because the world needs many.

That would be Illusions the Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah. by Richard Bach in 1997

Apparently Bush never read it, but I suspect Obama did and if not that he will especially if he is reading this now. It gives a lot of insight into the "crowd", the collective ego.

A classic before it's time, which happens to be NOW.

And remember there is a Mysterious Force at Work behind the scenes.

That realization really hit home once when I was watching a movie that I knew I was in, but you couldn't see me, I was behind a dumpster in that scene, signaling different groups and individuals to walk into the scene based on various cues from the director, all done to create perfect timing as it is in the world.

I’m still working as a production assistant, and still get cues from the director but a different one, unfortunately it doesn’t pay anything.

I saw Bush speaking about this 'attack' on the news. He laughed it off, and said something like 'I don't know what the guy's beef is'.

Which pretty much summed up the whole thing for me. Bush can't think why an Iraqi might be pissed off with him, American actions in Iraq. Or perhaps I should just have stopped at 'Bush can't think'.

Hello Deepak and Everyone,

Well, Bush's "so what," is nuttin compared to Cheney's in your face, "yes, I fully supported the torture of waterboarding, and, yes, the exact same waterboarding that was declared a war crime and punishable by death during the war crimes trials after WWII, so whatcha gonna do about it? huh?"

America's toughie twosome chat with the press while they are getting prepared saddle up the mules and head back west, these sheriffs are done for the day. What a pair!

Oh, btw, you write, "The unilateral invasion of Iraq was an insult to our allies, who had been naive enough to trust in six decades of cooperation through NATO and the UN."....

naive enough to trust?? who is naive, here, Deepak? our allies are anything but naive and at anytime anyone of them could spoken up, they all have there own intelligence at hand, they knew the score. I wouldn't say they were or are at all naive but I would say they were just like the American public, reckless, lax, and too willing to be duped.

have a great day, ruth

Ref #17

The Idea of a thing - is always worse than the thing.

For instance. People are having sex every day everywhere. If you see two people making love somewhere, then they are just two lovers. However if you get the idea into your mind that one of them is married to another person. Then they are looked on as unsincere, sleezey and deceptive people.

Yet really the situation has not changed at all, two people are still having sex regardless of any jugments being made..

Life is like the couple having sex... it really doesn't change just because you decide in your mind that it has changed because of an idea.

The truth of relity is constant, the belief in the ideas of reality are fictional mostly and are all over the place depending on your state of mind.

Love

Simon xx

Yes Simon, we live in a world of fiction and that world is in our mind, but it does manifest itself in our expereince, relationships and produces human made events.

In a world of fiction, at least we can all take comfort in knowing the trees, rivers and rocks are true, which in summary is all of nature.

Perhaps that is why so many find solace in nature; it is a world that is true.

Bush and company would have to stand before a firing squad for justice to be done!

We invade an innocent nation, being the direct cause of hundreds of thousands of deaths, and somebody throws a show at “our” American president, and they have crossed the line.

Americans are not in touch with reality and have not been for centuries!

For four hundred years, we have welcomed European immigrants, the ever-growing population pushing westward and destroying any Indians or Mexicans who stood in our way, the promise of profit and preaching the gospel justifying every inch of stolen land.

After the debatably justifiable Civil War we then added Africans to our invading armies, and as the 20th century came upon us, we had literally extended the American Empire throughout the Pacific Islands to China’s very shores (participating in the western sack of China also), adding legions of new ethnicities to our Empire, Irish, Scots, Indians, Mexicans, Cubans, Filipinos, Hawaiians; conquering lands worldwide and killing off the ones who fought against us, and giving positions of power to the ones who betrayed their own people.

Every new territory conquered provided another land, and more people, to be economically exploited, it was a win-win situation for every American b/c we all benefitted from the “trickle-down economics” of world conquest.

God, freedom, and economic interests always justifying every war or military covert operation; by the time the mid-twentieth century arrived the greed of the rich and powerful had pushed millions into starving poverty in continental America; and then WWII provided America the opportunity to put the poor huddled masses to use, preparing for war and fighting in it. WWII was only the second war that could be debated as just or not, but nevertheless the markets and jobs it provided Americans is without question! We occupied Japan, Germany, Italy, the Philippines (again), and a vast assortment of Pacific Islands; and we made the entire world subject to the American dollar, as well as subject to our military power.

The wars and countless governments America has began and overthrown since the end of WWII is, literally, world-renowned. Governments worldwide have been toppled and installed by American forces, or forces armed by America, to protect business interests, well, I mean, to destroy communism and brutal regimes, and spread “freedom” and “democracy” of course . . .

So now that America no longer has a west to expand into, we have literally gone back to where civilization began, Mesopotamia, to spread “freedom” and “democracy” of course; lucky for us they just happen to be sitting on the world’s 3rd most oil reserves.

A four centuries long war crime, and all immigrants and conquered peoples agree upon the one tie that binds us all – money – to the delight of the rich and powerful.

Rest assured, there shall be others that need “freed and democratized”.

We need to open up those markets at whatever cost: generation after generation.

Well, the war economy is about only export this nation has left, and, eventually, what we so “benevolently” keep on giving to others shall come back home!

Peace

I am just amazed at the fate of the people of this country.

I read this book "I was Saddam's son" about a decade ago and it sent shivers down my spine. I used to think how sad it is for the people who live there and wondered if some day this would end.

Now his regime did end, but the people are still suffering. More deaths than there were in his regime. I just can't imagine what kind of collective karma these people have to be in that part of the world.

There was good reason for the man to be upset with Bush, no doubt.

Throwing the shoes was probably what he could come up with to protest. First, he had access to the press conference, which most people can't get. Second, all those journalists were most likely searched before entering the conference room - meaning, al-Zeidi could not have brought in a sign to wave or something like that. Others have tried shouting something at press conferences, but they are simply ushered out and what they say is squelched - having zero impact.

So he got the idea of shoe-throwing. It was a successful idea - it communicated what he wanted it to, it was broadcast all over the world, and the people whose voice he was expressing - disaffected Iraqis, other Muslims, and people around the world who protested against the Iraq War - understood and supported him in delivering the message.

It was courageous because he knew they would kick the hell out of him - he had to know that. He's journalist, he knows the horror stories, he knows what kind of treatment political detainees get in high profile cases. And he decided to do it anyway, because he felt the point was that important.

And it is. Al-Zeidi is right. Bush is wrong. And the world, with the exception of the 25% Americans who still are holding onto Bush, also know it.

What's also true is that the behavior was inappropriate - and al-Zeidi knew that too, he had to. It is inappropriate to throw objects at any speaker, especially foreign dignitaries.

Therefore, Bush and the Iraqi authorities should not tolerate the act. So to that extent they were right to detain him and arrest him and prosecute the crime.

But they went too far. Now the Iraqi authorities, and by extension Bush - look even worse. This comes off as yet another instance where Bush appears to be tacitly approving of torture, and so it rubs the still-open wounds from Abu Ghraib and the other secret prisons where US personnel have engaged in torture of detainees.

The proper response would have been to arrest him, prosecute the crime, and then fine and/or sentence him to some small jail time. A fine would have been plenty of hardship for someone in al-Zeidi's situation.

Beating and torture are the wrong response, and it sends the wrong signal around the world.

"the behavior was inappropriate - and al-Zeidi knew that . . ."

Who made that rule?!?

Some billionaire capitalist crushing the poor under their heel ("no backsassing or throwing stuff you peasants . . ."!

Please!

Al-Zeidi's protest was elegant and effective, I thought. Without hurting anyone but himself, he made a point that was understood immediately in such a way that there was very little counter-reaction that could have distorted his message, and his message went around the whole world in a matter of minutes.

As for his physical sufferings thereafter, regrettably, he suffered under the hands of his countrymen in a manner he anticipated.

The way his case is being handled is per current Iraqi laws and methods, as far as I can read. There is no proof of torture, beyond the beating he received at the hands of the PM's security men after he was taken into the room away from where he threw the shoes. He has asked for a pardon from the PM, it is now being said.

I see the shoes of history are hot property now!

Will they be on E-bay?

Hi Deepak, how are you my brother, hare rama. Deepak, I have learned so much from you and for that I am immensely grateful. However, I am saddened after reading one of the political statements that you made in the above post.

While I agree with your broader political perspective, I object to your statement that European nations have been "naive" to trust and cooperate in NATO and the UN for sixty years. Europe won the cold war as well. And Europeans have built societies that are free to practice speech, religion and press, societies that are peaceful in their intentions and inter-connectedly aim towards peace. Europe and Europeans are generally a force for justice in the world. Norway and other European nations have done so much to advance peace in the world and their participation in NATO has enhanced the possibility of “peace on Earth”.

Deepak, as a citizen of this planet, I humbly ask that you apologize for your statement about European nations being “naïve” to trust and cooperate in NATO and the UN for sixty years.

Respectfully,
Michael Newman

The past is gone....

Now is a time to learn from the teachings of the past and put them into practice for the coming of the New Year...

Instead of saying "That should never have been"

Let us say "It will never be again"

Instead of pointing the finger of blame let us open our arms with love and embrace this new year with renewed hope and greater optimism.

Love Simon xx

~~
Yay Simon! I will second that.

B