The shoes that went flying by President Bush’s head at an Iraq news conference seem, to the people in that part of the world, an appropriate commentary on the chaos that the Bush administration is leaving behind.
Bush was on a victory tour of sorts, defending the war he pursued in Iraq, which has plunged the country into bedlam.
“This is your farewell kiss you dog!” shouted an Iraqi journalist as he winged one shoe, then another, at the president, who managed to dodge both.
The display of outrage has struck a chord with many in the Middle East. Thousands gathered in Sadr City, a poor district of Baghdad, to call for the journalist’s release.
And video of the incident has been widely played and replayed on television in many countries in the region.
The incident was symbolic of the hatred that U.S. policies in Iraq have engendered.
And it also illustrates just how steep a slope the incoming administration of Barack Obama will have to navigate to regain some modicum of world respect.
