|
|
 |
|
Reply
| |
Published on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 by Huffington Post
George W. Bush Has Been Throwing Shoes at Us
by Deepak Chopra
Most commentators took the shoe-throwing incident that happened over
the weekend as a bit of grotesque political slapstick. The Iraqi
television reporter who threw his shoes at President Bush apparently
considered himself a martyr, according to a note he passed to a
colleague on the spot. No doubt he anticipated some extremely cruel
reprisal for his symbolic protest. It's up in the air what will happen
to Muntadar al-Zeidi. The fact that he became an instant hero in the
Arab street carries small significance in the West, since that tinder
box doesn't need even a spark to ignite it.
We continually fail, it seems, to view our Middle Eastern disaster
through global eyes. A momentary insult hurled at America -- or at Mr.
Bush personally, if that was the primary intent -- is a minuscule
rebuke for the countless insults the rest of the world has had to
bear. The unilateral invasion of Iraq was an insult to our allies, who
had been naive enough to trust in six decades of cooperation through
NATO and the UN. The distortion and outright lying about Saddam's
imminent threat to the United States was an insult to everyone's
intelligence. The placing of responsibility for 9/11 on Saddam's
shoulders was an insult to the truth.
As he makes the rounds of exit interviews, Mr. Bush continues to throw
shoes at us. His "So what?" attitude toward the disaster he created is
the first shoe, the second is his blind assertion that the war in Iraq
is close to victory. Informed Middle East experts, the very sort he
ignored at the outset of his military adventures, point to a fragile
peace that could be shattered at any moment. The Sunni population of
Baghdad has been ethnically cleansed. Sadr City remains a powder keg.
Half of the country's two million Christians have been wiped out or
forced into exile. Civilian casualties since the invasion, counting
the losses in sectarian attacks, amount to 150,000 at the very least
and could be over 600,000 -- no one knows.
For Mr. Bush to ignore these brutal facts and try to paper them over
with slogans about democracy and victory must have something to do
with the shoes hurled at him. It's heartbreaking to think of the pent-
up rage and sorrow that lie behind the act. Those feelings are far
from being quelled. Should Iraq turn into a Shiite theocracy with anti-
American leanings, a fate that seems to be in the offing, Mr. Bush
will have another thing to say "So what?" about, but at least he'll be
doing it in private.
© 2008 Huffington Post
Deepak Chopra came to the U.S. in 1970 from his native India to
practice medicine, a career that evolved into the field of mind-body
medicine. His breakthrough book, "Quantum Healing," brought him public
recognition in 1989. Since then he has written more than 42 books and
travels worldwide as a spiritual speaker who fuses Western science
with Eastern wisdom. He lives in La Jolla with his wife, Rita, and has
two grown children and two grandchildren. Dr. Chopra heads the Chopra
Center in Carlsbad, California, which specializes in many alternative
treatment modalities including Ayurveda.
|
|
 First
Previous
2 of 2
Next
Last
|
Reply
| |
"It's up in the air what will happen to Muntadar al-Zeidi." One word; torture. --B. |
|
|
|
Free Forum Hosting
Important Announcement
