If he threw a shoe at any other Middle Eastern leader, he'd be dead, or at best, imprisoned and tortured for a good long while. And I mean real torture. Not bright lights and loud music. They'd work him over for months, until his own family wouldn't recognize him.
Being able to throw your shoe at a major leader without facing execution or savage repercussions is something no one in the Islamic world has. Iraq is the only place where they people would attempt such, dare I say, freedom of expression.
Bush is the real hero, in that he made a country this journalist can safely protest in. The Arabs can cheer all they like, but they themselves are powerless to protest against their own tyrants.
The Arabs know the reality of all this, the rest is posturing. Most of their governments would fall to radicals or aggressive neighbors if we didn’t back them up. They feel powerless to what we did in Iraq which is why they act out with shoes. Those that acted out with guns are dead.
I really don't think these folks are ready for freedom, but this guy had a taste of it, whether he knew it or not.
I have been at odds with President Bush over many things..but he handled this incident with grace. Sort of like, “I risked a lot to give your nation freedom..so throw your shoes at me..it's your right.”
Me..I'm pretty po’d over this guy throwing his shoes at the President. (Be it Bush, Clinton or whoever.)
He's a bigger person than me, I guess.