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The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 1, January 02-January 15, 2009

Shoe Politics

Shoe-throwing journalist Muntather Zaidi told his family he would never apologize to President Bush for hurling his shoes at him, reports the LA Times. Praised by religious leaders and others across the Arab world (PR.IV_26: The Shoe, The President and Iraq), Muntather’s brother Uday challenged the government’s assertions that the offender asked for forgiveness.

Zaidi was allegedly tortured in jail. Uday said his brother had lost a tooth and his nose had required stitches because of the beatings he had suffered while in custody. "A judge investigating the case told the Associated Press on Friday that Muntather showed signs of having been beaten in custody," comments the LA Times. Meeting with Iraqi reporters on Saturday, Maliki criticized Muntather for giving the world a “bad image” of Iraq and harming the reputation of its journalists.

Above all, the shoe incident exposes the West's failure to understand the Arab world, claims columnist Ray Hanania for Arabisto. According to Hanania, the case of the shoe-throwing Iraqi cameraman highlights the disconnect between what Americans do and do not know about the Arab world.

Hanania explains that although the Arab world has been at the core of US policies since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, America knows barely anything about the Arab world. He adds there is not "one major Arab American columnist who writes on a regular basis for a major mainstream American newspaper who is allowed to explain Arab culture and Arab thinking and Arab politics."

Further, Hanania argues that Arab Americans are excluded from most debates in the US and "the coverage of the Arab American community is often restricted to controversy, violence and terrorism." He goes on to add that until Americans understand the Arab mind and fight against stereotypes and prejudices, little else but failure should be expected.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also commented that US popularity is currently "not great" in the Arab world, reports Agence France Presse. "Perhaps it is not popular in the Middle East to say that it is time for the people of the Middle East to live in freedom, not in tyranny," Rice said in an interview with AFP.

American popularity has seen considerable decline in the wake of the US-led war on terror, and the recent event with Muntather was another characteristic of the state of US-Arab relations. The chief US diplomat was surprised when AFP, like other media outlets, continued to ask her about the wave of popular Arab support for the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush during his recent unannounced visit to Baghdad.

"Do you really think in 10 years anybody will remember this incident?," Rice asked before adding, "What matters is the US liberated the people of Iraq from Saddam Hussein."

PJStar remarks however, "Sadly, the incident is also a sign of the diminished global stature of the American presidency." Many Iraqis and others in the Muslim world condemned the attack in no uncertain terms, for it was a deep cultural faux pas implying that the president is as low as the dirt underneath the shoe and an affront to the hospitality one is expected to show a guest. The incident demonstrates the necessity of rebuilding America's reputation in the Middle East in the next few years.