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How George W. Bush Can Transcend Muntazer al-Zaidi the Shoe Thrower - WSJ
A small outrage requires a grand gesture.
By MARK BOWDEN
DECEMBER 24, 2008
As a holiday gesture, President Bush ought to ask the Iraqi government to pardon Muntazer al-Zaidi -- the Iraqi journalist who tried to hit him with his shoes.
Sometimes a small outrage affords an opportunity for a grand gesture. The president was not harmed by the stunt. He had the grace to joke immediately afterwards that the missiles were a "size 10." Video of the shoe-throwing, which went viral on the Internet and has been seen now by just about everyone on the planet, has mostly elicited laughter.
But already the consequences have been no joke for Mr. Zaidi. By most accounts, he has been roughly treated in prison, where he was taken after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's guards were seen beating him after he threw the second shoe. He now faces as many as 15 years in prison, one for every one of his 15 minutes of fame.
This is clearly out of proportion. The stunt was rude and no doubt embarrassing to the Iraqi authorities, but it is hardly a high crime. For Americans, the only serious issue raised by the shoe-throwing episode is how Mr. Zaidi was able to throw the second one. With its national pride at stake, the Iraqi government is unlikely to cut the journalist a break. If a gesture is to be made, it has to come from Mr. Bush.
Pardoning him would be the fair thing to do, and would cost nothing. It would reflect positively on a president who, face it, could use some good publicity, and would instantly deflate whatever folk hero status Mr. Zaidi now enjoys.
It would also be a small way of acknowledging that Iraqis have borne by far the greatest measure of pain in this war, and that America's handling of the country since chasing Saddam Hussein from power, while trending in the right direction currently, has not been a singular and shining success. Many Iraqis have come by their anger toward the U.S. honestly.
Magnanimity is a strong prerogative, too seldom used. It is a chance for the man to be as large as the office. No one was better at this than Abraham Lincoln, whose frequent public acts of forgiveness, from promoting his political rivals to commuting the death sentences of Union soldiers, earned him an enduring legacy of kindness and humility. Less remarked upon is Lincoln's shrewdness. He was no softy. He signed many a death warrant for deliberate acts of cruelty or criminality in the ranks, but he understood that sparing a "simple soldier boy" for panicking or for falling asleep would do far more for the army's morale than another execution would do for its discipline.
Mr. Bush missed an opportunity to rise above the fray a few years ago when the popular country-music trio The Dixie Chicks publicly insulted him. If the president, who professes to be a country music buff, had taken a public opportunity to praise the group's harmonies, which are excellent whatever its politics, Mr. Bush would have diminished the insult and elevated himself.
As the video now plays, and plays, and plays, with just the action sequence of hurled shoes and the ducking president, Mr. Bush appears ridiculous. It will stay that way and is certain to become, with several other unfortunate tableaus ("Mission Accomplished" comes to mind), an iconic moment in the Bush presidency. With a simple gesture of reprieve, he could completely rise above it. Mr. Zaidi would be nothing more than a rude prankster. The president would be the story's hero.
Mr. Bowden, a national correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly, is the author of "Guests of the Ayatollah" and, more recently, "The Best Game Ever," both published by Atlantic Monthly Press.
A small outrage requires a grand gesture.
By MARK BOWDEN
DECEMBER 24, 2008
As a holiday gesture, President Bush ought to ask the Iraqi government to pardon Muntazer al-Zaidi -- the Iraqi journalist who tried to hit him with his shoes.
Sometimes a small outrage affords an opportunity for a grand gesture. The president was not harmed by the stunt. He had the grace to joke immediately afterwards that the missiles were a "size 10." Video of the shoe-throwing, which went viral on the Internet and has been seen now by just about everyone on the planet, has mostly elicited laughter.
But already the consequences have been no joke for Mr. Zaidi. By most accounts, he has been roughly treated in prison, where he was taken after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's guards were seen beating him after he threw the second shoe. He now faces as many as 15 years in prison, one for every one of his 15 minutes of fame.
This is clearly out of proportion. The stunt was rude and no doubt embarrassing to the Iraqi authorities, but it is hardly a high crime. For Americans, the only serious issue raised by the shoe-throwing episode is how Mr. Zaidi was able to throw the second one. With its national pride at stake, the Iraqi government is unlikely to cut the journalist a break. If a gesture is to be made, it has to come from Mr. Bush.
Pardoning him would be the fair thing to do, and would cost nothing. It would reflect positively on a president who, face it, could use some good publicity, and would instantly deflate whatever folk hero status Mr. Zaidi now enjoys.
It would also be a small way of acknowledging that Iraqis have borne by far the greatest measure of pain in this war, and that America's handling of the country since chasing Saddam Hussein from power, while trending in the right direction currently, has not been a singular and shining success. Many Iraqis have come by their anger toward the U.S. honestly.
Magnanimity is a strong prerogative, too seldom used. It is a chance for the man to be as large as the office. No one was better at this than Abraham Lincoln, whose frequent public acts of forgiveness, from promoting his political rivals to commuting the death sentences of Union soldiers, earned him an enduring legacy of kindness and humility. Less remarked upon is Lincoln's shrewdness. He was no softy. He signed many a death warrant for deliberate acts of cruelty or criminality in the ranks, but he understood that sparing a "simple soldier boy" for panicking or for falling asleep would do far more for the army's morale than another execution would do for its discipline.
Mr. Bush missed an opportunity to rise above the fray a few years ago when the popular country-music trio The Dixie Chicks publicly insulted him. If the president, who professes to be a country music buff, had taken a public opportunity to praise the group's harmonies, which are excellent whatever its politics, Mr. Bush would have diminished the insult and elevated himself.
As the video now plays, and plays, and plays, with just the action sequence of hurled shoes and the ducking president, Mr. Bush appears ridiculous. It will stay that way and is certain to become, with several other unfortunate tableaus ("Mission Accomplished" comes to mind), an iconic moment in the Bush presidency. With a simple gesture of reprieve, he could completely rise above it. Mr. Zaidi would be nothing more than a rude prankster. The president would be the story's hero.
Mr. Bowden, a national correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly, is the author of "Guests of the Ayatollah" and, more recently, "The Best Game Ever," both published by Atlantic Monthly Press.
