The shameful incident in Iraq

Muntadar al-Zaidi, is already at the top of news headlines everywhere in the world, for his extremely notorious and nasty actions at a press conference in Iraq, when he threw his shows targeting the outgoing US President George W Bush. This is particularly a very shameful incident for the members of the press community as this man also belongs to our same community. But, let the world note with certainty that, what Muntadar al-Zaidi did should definitely not reflect the image of the entire press community in the world. Rather it could be taken as a very separate and special case, where an Arab misbehaved with its country's foreign guest as well the President of a foreign nation right in presence of local and international media.

Zaidi, a reporter with the Cairo-based al-Baghdadia television network, stood up in the middle of the news conference and threw two shoes, one after the other, at Bush's head. The president, standing alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, dodged both shoes before Zaidi was tackled and restrained by U.S. and Iraqi security agents.

The incident quickly became a television and Internet sensation, and it prompted large rallies yesterday in Iraq and elsewhere in the Arab world by demonstrators demanding Zaidi's release. Throwing shoes is considered a dramatic insult among Arabs; Zaidi also called Bush a "dog."

Commenting on this nasty incident, Washington Post said, "The episode underscored the limits of the large security apparatus that surrounds U.S. presidents, a detail that must balance safety concerns against the need to be accessible, according to security experts.

"They are already so protected as it is that it's hard to imagine how they could guard against something like this," said John E. Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a think tank on defense and security issues. "It just comes with the territory."

Zahren said that those at the news conference at the prime minister's palace were screened with magnetometers and were given additional pat-downs to ensure that no weapons were brought into the room. U.S. officials also conducted background and identity checks on all participants ahead of time as usual, he said.

"This was a room full of cleared and screened press, and that could be the case anywhere," Zahren said. "We wouldn't expect this type of behavior out of our press corps, but within the security structure, people can still misbehave."

William H. Pickle, a former Secret Service agent and former sergeant at arms in the Senate, said, "Other than the shoes, the most deadly weapon in that room was probably going to be a chair or a pen." He said there are limits to what security officers can do in such situations.

"Unless you isolate the president from human contact, I'm not sure you can entirely prevent someone from doing something like that," Pickle said.

Bush has been particularly well protected during his eight years in office, often limiting himself to pre-screened and friendly audiences. His weekend trip to Iraq and Afghanistan was unannounced and cloaked in secrecy.

One of the most serious security threats to Bush came in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2005, when a live grenade was lobbed toward him as he addressed a crowd in Freedom Square. The grenade did not go off. The assailant later killed a security officer during a manhunt and was eventually sentenced to life in prison by Georgian authorities."

Commenting on this incident, Kathleen Troia, National Security Expert said, After I watched the news clip of Bush's Baghdad press conference last night — the one with the shoe-throwing reporter — I switched to the final installment of the HBO mini-series, "House of Saddam."

I couldn't help but note the irony. Was Saddam Hussein's Iraq the world that reporter wants to return to? Forget about the throwing a shoe, Saddam Hussein would have had that reporter killed merely for writing critically of his regime. Can you imagine what Saddam would have done if that reporter had thrown a shoe at him, not only bonking him, but offering the ultimate Arab insult? That reporter would have been gunned down on the spot and his body fed to the dogs.

According to Salameh Nematt, former Washington Bureau Chief for the respected Arab newspaper Al Hayat, criticizing Saddam Hussein wasn't the safest thing to do. Neat spent much of his career based in Jordan, exposing Saddam Hussein's brutalities, and condemning his use of chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war. Saddam put him on a hit list and ordered his assassination, along with a number of other Iraqi dissidents who had fled to Jordan. The only reason Neat is alive today is a friend in Jordanian intelligence service tipped him off to the assassination plot, and Nematt was able to escape the Middle East to make a new career reporting from…America!

Iraqi protestors have argued that the reporter, Muntadar al-Zaidi, was merely expressing his opinion, under Iraq's free press. I only wish President Bush, who is a great athlete, would have caught those shoes and thrown them back at Mr. al-Zaidi instead of gracefully dodging the shots. Because, in some eyes, Mr. al-Zaidi is the ultimate ingrate who deserved an insult, too.

There is no doubt the Iraq war has gone on too long, and cost too much in lives and treasure of both Iraqis and Americans. But in the rush to condemn President Bush, let's not forget what President Saddam Hussein was really like. And let's not forget that a free press and freedom of speech — the privileges Mr. al-Zaidi is so eager to take advantage of — weren't free. They were paid for by the lives of his fellow countrymen and mine.

As the United States prepares to leave Iraq and Mr. Bush prepares to depart the presidency, let's hope Mr. al-Zaidi and his colleagues and countrymen not only appreciate that gift, but are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to maintain it.

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The shameful incident in Iraq

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