"A farewell to Iraq"
Listening to: The same...
Reposted from euro|topics 16/12/2008...
A journalist has hurled his shoe at George W. Bush during the outgoing US president's parting visit to Iraq. The European press comments on the incident and takes stock of the US intervention in the country.
Večer - Slovenia
The daily Večer writes about Bush's policy in Iraq and Afghanistan: "The US president's ... first visit to these two countries was a 'fireworks' display. A fireworks display that was triggered by fighter planes, bombers and tomahawk missiles and in which Taliban and Saddam Hussein's soldiers, but above all innocent civilians lost their lives. ... With its war on terrorism the American leadership has also pulled [other] countries into the hell of terrorism ... - starting with Spain and the UK. In 2003 and 2005 the terrorists orchestrated terrorist attacks in these countries. And because of the American leadership countries became involved in disputes with each other, both within the EU and at an international level. Bush leaves a legacy of ... political devastation. He has passed on to his successor Barack Obama the heaviest burden a newly elected president has ever been confronted with: the task of ending two wars without admitting defeat." (16/12/2008)
Pražský deník - Czech Republic
"The American president continues to defend the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq to this day", writes the Czech newspaper Pražský deník. "A different attitude is hardly to be expected now that the Americans have forked out over 100 billion dollars to get the job done. And that is not the end of things, Bush has also signed an agreement whereby American soldiers will remain in the country another three years. ... The money for bombs, provisions and the soldiers' pay is not lost. After all, someone has written out a receipt for them. The 'only' thing that is really lost is human lives. But there is no excuse for that. For incurring these dead Bush has earned a lot more than an Iraqi's shoe. He also deserves the insults of Americans. For examle that someone at [the US news broadcaster] CNN spits at him during an interview. No doubt he wouldn't laugh at that the way he laughs at this Iraqi insult." (16/12/2008)
Trouw - Netherlands
The daily Trouw compares the shoe attack on Bush with the enthusiasm of the Iraqis at the beginning of the war: "Back then they could not have imagined that the country would be pushed to the edge of an abyss, that nothing would come of the promised reconstruction, that the violence [of the war] would cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of lives and force millions of Iraqis to flee. It is just a matter of time before Iraq breaks apart. The war in Iraq has not made the world safer, as Bush and his allies had promised. On the contrary: it has only served to increase the numbers of those who support militant and terrorist organisations. This is the legacy that President Bush has bequeathed to Iraq. The Iraqi journalist ... could do nothing but use his shoes to express his deep contempt in the name of millions of Iraqis. It is an act of the powerless." (16/12/2008) [This editorial lacks an understanding of social expression in the Muslim world... a misunderstanding the symbolism gives a inaccurate conclusion. -- ed]
Financial Times - United Kingdom
The Financial Times writes: "George W. Bush, who ducked a volley of shoes from an enraged Iraqi journalist at a press conference in Baghdad on Sunday, professed to be perplexed. This was an epic insult intended for a serial bungler. But, like the shoes, it too went straight over his head. Mr Bush, who has buried America's reputation throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds in the ruins of Iraq, did not, does not and will never get it. The Bush administration, on a false prospectus, broke the state of Iraq, scattered its middle classes across the Middle East, proliferated jihadism and uncorked a sectarian war that will haunt the region for a long time to come. By invading Iraq it also made Iran a regional power." (16/12/2008)
La Repubblica - Italy
The shoe attack on Bush has symbolic power, writes the left-liberal daily La Repubblica: "The shoe Intifada that spread yesterday from the Shi'ite stronghold Sadr City to many Iraqi cities where the shoe-throwing journalist is being hailed as a hero and where his portrait is being carried in processions through the streets runs the risk of becoming the indelible stain of what many Westerners and Americans consider to be the worst presidency in the history of the United States. ... The mockery in the media is compounded by the political damage. For on the same day a study was presented revealing the billion-dollar fraud committed in the reconstruction of Iraq. ... There can be no doubt that the Iraqi journalist supplied a plastic translation of the anti-American sentiment that is widespread not only in the Arab world but in all developing countries. All the surveys show that America's popularity has hit an all-time low. This is the worst legacy that George W. Bush, who was able to dodge the shoe but won't be able to dodge history's judgement, leaves behind for his successor Barack Obama." (16/12/2008)
Reposted from euro|topics 16/12/2008...
A journalist has hurled his shoe at George W. Bush during the outgoing US president's parting visit to Iraq. The European press comments on the incident and takes stock of the US intervention in the country.
Večer - Slovenia
The daily Večer writes about Bush's policy in Iraq and Afghanistan: "The US president's ... first visit to these two countries was a 'fireworks' display. A fireworks display that was triggered by fighter planes, bombers and tomahawk missiles and in which Taliban and Saddam Hussein's soldiers, but above all innocent civilians lost their lives. ... With its war on terrorism the American leadership has also pulled [other] countries into the hell of terrorism ... - starting with Spain and the UK. In 2003 and 2005 the terrorists orchestrated terrorist attacks in these countries. And because of the American leadership countries became involved in disputes with each other, both within the EU and at an international level. Bush leaves a legacy of ... political devastation. He has passed on to his successor Barack Obama the heaviest burden a newly elected president has ever been confronted with: the task of ending two wars without admitting defeat." (16/12/2008)
Pražský deník - Czech Republic
"The American president continues to defend the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq to this day", writes the Czech newspaper Pražský deník. "A different attitude is hardly to be expected now that the Americans have forked out over 100 billion dollars to get the job done. And that is not the end of things, Bush has also signed an agreement whereby American soldiers will remain in the country another three years. ... The money for bombs, provisions and the soldiers' pay is not lost. After all, someone has written out a receipt for them. The 'only' thing that is really lost is human lives. But there is no excuse for that. For incurring these dead Bush has earned a lot more than an Iraqi's shoe. He also deserves the insults of Americans. For examle that someone at [the US news broadcaster] CNN spits at him during an interview. No doubt he wouldn't laugh at that the way he laughs at this Iraqi insult." (16/12/2008)
Trouw - Netherlands
The daily Trouw compares the shoe attack on Bush with the enthusiasm of the Iraqis at the beginning of the war: "Back then they could not have imagined that the country would be pushed to the edge of an abyss, that nothing would come of the promised reconstruction, that the violence [of the war] would cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of lives and force millions of Iraqis to flee. It is just a matter of time before Iraq breaks apart. The war in Iraq has not made the world safer, as Bush and his allies had promised. On the contrary: it has only served to increase the numbers of those who support militant and terrorist organisations. This is the legacy that President Bush has bequeathed to Iraq. The Iraqi journalist ... could do nothing but use his shoes to express his deep contempt in the name of millions of Iraqis. It is an act of the powerless." (16/12/2008) [This editorial lacks an understanding of social expression in the Muslim world... a misunderstanding the symbolism gives a inaccurate conclusion. -- ed]
Financial Times - United Kingdom
The Financial Times writes: "George W. Bush, who ducked a volley of shoes from an enraged Iraqi journalist at a press conference in Baghdad on Sunday, professed to be perplexed. This was an epic insult intended for a serial bungler. But, like the shoes, it too went straight over his head. Mr Bush, who has buried America's reputation throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds in the ruins of Iraq, did not, does not and will never get it. The Bush administration, on a false prospectus, broke the state of Iraq, scattered its middle classes across the Middle East, proliferated jihadism and uncorked a sectarian war that will haunt the region for a long time to come. By invading Iraq it also made Iran a regional power." (16/12/2008)
La Repubblica - Italy
The shoe attack on Bush has symbolic power, writes the left-liberal daily La Repubblica: "The shoe Intifada that spread yesterday from the Shi'ite stronghold Sadr City to many Iraqi cities where the shoe-throwing journalist is being hailed as a hero and where his portrait is being carried in processions through the streets runs the risk of becoming the indelible stain of what many Westerners and Americans consider to be the worst presidency in the history of the United States. ... The mockery in the media is compounded by the political damage. For on the same day a study was presented revealing the billion-dollar fraud committed in the reconstruction of Iraq. ... There can be no doubt that the Iraqi journalist supplied a plastic translation of the anti-American sentiment that is widespread not only in the Arab world but in all developing countries. All the surveys show that America's popularity has hit an all-time low. This is the worst legacy that George W. Bush, who was able to dodge the shoe but won't be able to dodge history's judgement, leaves behind for his successor Barack Obama." (16/12/2008)