I am sure that many of our friends on the left see this as another rebuke of Bush. I see it as an over-the-top success. Iraq is a Democratic country now. Replete with idiots who make infantile gestures, like throwing a shoe, or a pie in the face. The moron in question has recieved some bruises while in the care of the Iraqi police. But how is this different than some whop getting worked over by the mic cops in Chicago back in our early 20th century?
This reporter will probably be a celebrity and show off his scars, while screaming anti-American profanities on the Iraqi version of Oprah. He will live to be outrageous another day. Is the U.S. a beautiful country or what? Recall what would happen to this character if Saddam where in power? He, his family, his village would all get brutally killed after prolonged torture and rape.
Today, in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt he would be killed or he would just disappear. The paper he worked for would probably suffer. His family? Who knows. In Iraq, he can act … like an American leftist whacko!
This freedom is awe inspiring considering where Iraq was just 8 years ago. This freedom was a gift brought about by Bush. In this Bush was right, the way to drain the Middle East swamp is to introduce a democratic process. Democracy is messy, often bare knuckles, and sometimes ugly. But it beats all the alternatives. Hopefully the Iraqi experiment in democracy shall not perish from this earth.
Amen!!
For them to see the irony of the reporter being able to walk out of there after he threw the shoes is, in itself, a miracle.
I’ll second that “Amen”!!!
Jacob,
I believe the guy was a reporter for a Cairo newspaper. Just don’t do it in Cairo!
The way that you have put it is better than mine. I had thought of it as being much better than being shot at. With all of the anger management problems in that part of the world, having a shoe thrown at you, while insulting, is one hell of a lot better that what is common over there. Well said.
regime change or allowing ‘democracy’ in many of these countries is bad news for israel. hence the lack of sponsorship for ‘democracy’ in ‘friendly’ islamic countries. i pray iraq is democratic and peaceful in a few years when the us leaves, but russia was once a model for democratic change too.
As was Germany during the 1920’s. Sort of.
Neither Germany nor Russia were ever ‘models’ for democratic change.
Germany was in a state of near civil war for much of the Wiemar Republic’s sad history. Open warfare between Communists and Fascist elements within Germany raged for several years after WWI. Then came the National Socialists and they started to absorb most of the Anti-Communist types in the country. Then came the putsch, Hitler was jailed and the rest is history.
In the Soviet Union the Communist party also attempted a putsch and Yeltsin stopped them. The trouble is that the Russian economy basically collapsed after glasnost. The Wiemar Republic was also an economic basket case. It is during times of economic peril when a weak democracy will fall victim to the need for a strong leader. Vladimir Putin has consolidated his grip on Russia.
Socialist use crisis to cement their power. It is a historical pattern. It is something to fear and be on the guard against. Once freedom is taken, it requires a lot of effort to retrieve.
Democracy is the most difficult of all governments to establish. It takes a great deal of time as well. On the positive side, once established, they are difficult to kill.
I did not intend to imply that Germany in the 1920’s was a ‘model’ of democracy. I was attempting to point out how a change to a dictatorship could easily occur with any government that we attempt to establish within the Middle East.