Angry Iraqi throws shoes at Bush in Baghdad

[Felicia Katt]

Bush was greeted as an OdorEater

FK

[transmaven]

a solid and sane political post:

Prophesying shallow statements like: "Bush will go down as the worst President in US history" doesn't only ignore the verities of the past, but also insults the historical facts that came to be true.

The spot of worst president of the United States, is well reserved for a man who threatened the existence and welfare of the republic itself. That man was Richard Nixon. We all know that the actions of this latter president created a constitutional crisis of unprecedented proportions when all branches of governments stood to fight each other. In retrospect, although Bush has bent the law in numerous cases such as the NSA wiretaps, Gitmo, and the use of waterboarding, he never ignored a ruling by a court when ordered, and he never overstepped his powers when reprimanded by either Congress or the Supreme Court. Something Nixon tried to do, but luckily failed in accomplishing.

The ranking of W. Bush in history will not be known for awhile, and squarely depends on the successes carried in the New Iraq and Afghanistan. The best case scenario would be that Democracy truly succeed in Iraq and sweeps all over the Middle East. Peace is then reached between Israel and Palestine. A new state of Palestine is created, radical Islam and terrorism both collapse to the ash heap of history with no return, and the whole region becomes again a beacon of knowledge, economical prosperity and freedom. Then we can all be assured that Mr. Bush will secure a certain spot as one of the best 10 presidents we ever had. If on the contrary, Iraq fails and deepens into a civil and ethnic war that spills over to the whole region, you can confidently say that Nixon's spot is in jeopardy. For me, I sincerely pray that the first scenario plays out.

Of course, there are worst presidents than Mr. Bush. Some names that come to mind are James Buchanan who hastened the start of the civil war by his incompetence and indecision, John Tyler who supported slavery and whose actions led to the Secession, Herbert Hoover who exacerbated the Great Depression, and finally Warren Harding whose administration was famous for extravagant corruption and limitless scandal.

In the end, it's useful to notice that every US administration was plagued by political scandals, whether it be the Iran Contra, or the Lewinsky gate, scandals come with power. Power always corrupts. It's human nature. Hell it has corrupted Popes before. President-elect Obama has not been sworn in yet, but his administration is already facing its first political challenge: that of Rod R. Blagojevich.

hats off sir; hope you enjoyed that malbec.--

[timxxx]

Some more views of the shoe incident.

[bte]

This Iraqi guy is an idiot, if he did that to Saddam then he would have been tortured then killed. Some people are just so ungrateful.

Maybe "the Iraqi guy" wasn't one of the multitudes greeting the BushInc. "liberators" with flowers and chocolates.

Maybe he feels the "liberating forces" have done more harm than Saddam.

Maybe he's lost family and/or friends because of Bush's folly just like we have in the US.

Maybe he wishes that Bush and his neocon masters had left Iraq the way it was.

Maybe he's not as grateful as you think he should be.

Maybe he's wishing it was a shoe bomb instead of just a shoe that he threw at our disgraceful chimp-in-chief.

I wonder why?

So he would be happy to have Saddam back in power? Americans, might not know what it's like to live under Saddam, but Iraqis do. So therfore we can never imagine what they are going through. Yeah, America went to their country and fuck shit up, but America is trying to help the Iraqi people. The Iraqis are probably tired of seeing Americans carrying around guns and whatnot, but if America was to leave then Islamic terrorists would just take over Iraq and thus becoming a bigger threat than it was originally.

[JohnDoe82]

that silly smile on Bush's face, one would think that he was
tempted to start a shoe throwing war with all the reporters right then
and there.
btw, where was the secret service?
ok,they were trained to take bullets not shoes but
they should have jumped in front of him anyway....
damn, nobody wants to take a shoe for this guy

[alyssats]

hehe George Bush looks so cute in this video
I want him to shag me lolz

[Solitary Brother]

This Iraqi guy is an idiot, if he did that to Saddam then he would have been tortured then killed. Some people are just so ungrateful.

Yeah and like all those Jewish people that Hitler killed are ungrateful too!

[Ben]

[african1]

a solid and sane political post

hats off sir; hope you enjoyed that malbec.--

Thank you. Indeed, I very much enjoyed the Malbec.

[Angel17TS]

I just want to clarify one thing. It has been said throughout this post "everybody hates Americans" with the subject being the people of Iraq aka Muslims. Just so you know, we dont hate Americans. Most people dont. You believe this becuase this is what you are told in your media. Every time you see the Middle East, you see a destroyed village, or men waving guns. You see extreme people with extreme beliefs becuase thats what they want you to believe. If they actually showed you real life, doctors and lawyers, and business men, and families in beautiful homes, living normal lives and days just like your own, the American people would be shocked. They would realize, its very much the same, and the people arent that different. Believing the Iraqi people were nothing but nomads and helpless is ignorant. If you see only what is shown on tv, you beleive what they tell you to believe, "The world hates us, but we are the righteous ones". Anyone who has spent time here will tell you its nothing like what is portrayed. We dont hate you. So dont use that as justification for terrible acts. Your media uses fear as its greatest weapon to control the people. All countries and medias do. Proof? How about when it was told on the news Barack Obama attended a MADRASA, ohhhhhhhh scaryyyyyy right? What is that scary Islamic terrorist word??? It means School! Nothing more. School, Grade School, Highschool, Public School, its the same word! But by using the word over and over, the ignorant believe it has some evil meaning which was the intent. The same goes for the images shown of the iraq war.

Again as someone said, we dont know what has happened to this man, who he lost, his wife? his children? If an American Soldier killed your child, even by mistake, how will you react? Shall you say "Well they got Sadam, so its ok". You dont care who this man is, only to seek revenge. He should be thankful that Sadam was removed, is a crazy thing to say. Many countries have tyrants and bad leaders, and in time these countries have REVOLUTIONS. The people will eventually find their way to the type of government they want. Not the one that is forced on them.

Instead just accusing Iraqis or Middle Eastern people of being "Extremists" and of all hating Americans, why dont you think what it must be like to have lived through that.

Imagine your country has some terrible president in the future. He brings in many laws, and unfairly begins holding Americans in prisons, even some disappear or are killed. So perhaps the world decides they will "Help" the American people and invade. They capture the president and convict him of war crimes. But along the way, your wife is killed by a bomb, your son is killed by a soldier by mistake. Now its been over 2 years and your "liberators" are still in your country, with no sign of them ever leaving. While you were happy they came at first, now you have seen them destroy your family. So you gather your guns, car bombs, knives, anything you can, and join the underground fight to get rid of these foreigners, get your revenge. But to the rest of the world you are a "Terrorist". Maybe you will be labeled a "Christian Extremist"

If it makes you feel better to believe everybody hates you, as justification for terrible acts, or that somehow its defending your own freedom to take the war to them, then believe that. After all Im just some extremist somewhere in the middle east, waving guns and living in a shack.