| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Ralph Peters: The Great Baghdad Shoe Toss |
| 2008-12-16 |
| Ralph Peters points out how the MSM has misrepresented the shoe incident. If an Arab journalist had thrown his shoes at Saddam Hussein or one of his guests, the tosser would've been beaten, then tortured, then killed. Bush won. Even if shoe-thrower Muntadar al-Zaidi (who works for an Egypt-based media outfit) walks out in his stocking feet and becomes a hero to dead-enders, he unwittingly showed what a great thing has been accomplished in Iraq. Other than Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, what Arab head of government holds free-wheeling press conferences? "President" Mubarak of Egypt? Assad of Syria? The Saudi king? Qaddafi? The only countries in the Middle East where a journalist could survive after such behavior are Iraq, maybe Lebanon - and Israel. Even Jordan doesn't allow such freedom. The media have been having a ball with the video of the Great Baghdad Shoe Toss. But they've missed the point completely. Our sacrifices let that pathetic reporter muster the courage to hurl his shoes at our president: He knew he could get away with it. |
| Posted by:Frozen Al |
| #17 Imagine some nutcase tossing his sneakers at Bambi after 1/20: do you really think the S.S. will let him off as easily? the first one might catch them unawares, but the second one, i doubt they will have the time to stop and analyze what their eyes are registering; with any luck they will draw and shoot. New crime: Death by Wingtips. |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2008-12-16 22:45 |
| #16 The Secret Service should go nuclear over any assault on our president. No assault is acceptable, not so much as a spitball. Lest we encourage similar behavior in the future and the POTUS becomes a tool for every two-bit hooligan in the world to use as a way to get attention. These people DO NOT get to share a stage with our president. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2008-12-16 21:23 |
| #15 Fu@K the arabs world. Young Americans are dieing there and they disrespect our president, think its funny, and treat the reporter like a hero. Would he do it to Mubarak, hell no!!! |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2008-12-16 20:50 |
| #14 I wish W had caught the thing in mid-air and chucked it back at the asshole. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2008-12-16 20:37 |
| #13 Tw is right, but if they did that in Kentucky the reporter would be a dead man. We spend billions liberating that countey, billions more on Egypt, and they throw shoes at him. The insult and their rejoicing reminds me on a smaller scale of the joy of 9/11 in the Arab streets. We have missed the mark on dealing with the Arab world. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2008-12-16 20:24 |
| #12 A voice of Reason from tw. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2008-12-16 20:04 |
| #11 Why should the Secret Service go nuclear over an idiot throwing his foot coverings? Were there a real weapon involved it would be different, but according to a press conference I saw this morning with a Secret Service spokesman, all those present had been examined before being permitted into the room. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-12-16 19:28 |
| #10 One a Hek's boyos obvously. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-12-16 19:14 |
| #9 nude press conferences with |
| Posted by: Ai my eyes 2008-12-16 16:47 |
| #8 Some one should cook up a video for Youtube showing Bush as Neo dodging bullets. He did it with a level of grace I did not expect. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-12-16 16:39 |
| #7 Well, here were the secret service guys, playing pinocle in the back room? Color me unimpressed, and the nutcase world encouraged, by their non-response to an assault on our president. |
| Posted by: regular joe 2008-12-16 16:29 |
| #6 Personally, I think it's rather comical that the guy was 5 yards away and he missed... TWICE! I think that's what you call an epic FAIL. Only in the ME could a guy become a folk hero for missing his intended target from such a close range. The truth of the matter is that this incident exposes the irony of the anti-American mindset and the persistently immature and adolescent behavior that seems to be the norm in the ME. They are like a bunch of impetuous 12 year-olds arguing with their wiser parents. "You ruin everything! I hate you! Why won't you just leave me alone... hey, can I borrow the car and $20 to go to the movies?" |
| Posted by: eltoroverde 2008-12-16 15:51 |
| #5 I second the nude press conferences with Megyn Kelly in the room. |
| Posted by: eltoroverde 2008-12-16 15:45 |
| #4 The question is whether a shoe bomb could have gotten through the scanning and shoe inspection that even the TSA would do, let alone what must have occurred there. I suspect that's why, unless you want to have nude press conferences, and if Megyn Kelly were in the room it might not be a bad idea, you always have the potential for some article of clothing, or a notepad, or camera, being thrown. They're the press, after all. The real point is the one Peters makes. It's what makes us different. If the Iraqis and the rest of the ME want to get on board, great. If they want to go back to the way things were in Saddam's days, that's OK, too. They're about to let us know which it is. I'm not optimistic, but I'm willing to wait a bit before concluding that they should all glow in the dark. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-12-16 14:43 |
| #3 I'm just a lowly civilian but I gotta get this off my chest. I watched the video of this incident in Baghdad. That the muzzie perp was able to throw the SECOND shoe at President Bush without getting a bullet put into his head by the Secret Service has given me pause for concern. If I'm out of line for thinkng this way go ahead and tell me. I'm a big boy. I can take it. Oh, and by the way, if you believe I'm wrong to think this way, please explain to me how utterly impossible it is to contruct a shoe bomb with sufficient explovsive material that if coud kill or harm someone. |
| Posted by: MarkZ 2008-12-16 14:18 |
| #2 The media didn't 'miss the point' - they got the point - they are just deliberately being misleading about the point. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2008-12-16 14:10 |
| #1 He's not out of the woods yet. Seems the Iraqis beat the bejesus out of him for it. But he is alive and the author is right, if he did that to Saddam they would have taken him out the back door and put one in his ear. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-12-16 13:29 |