Assault With A Deadly Shoe

President Bush traveled to Iraq to sign the Status of Force Agreement between the U.S. and Iraq (this is essentially the official document that maps out the American withdrawal of combat troops - it's officially over) and as a farewell tour to the troops there. At a press conference, and Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at Bush:

Displaying the reflexes of a cat, Bush easily dodges the shoes, and the reporter is jumped by security personnel. From the AP report:

A man threw his shoes at President George W. Bush and was dragged away by security officials during the president's farewell trip to Iraq.

The incident occurred as Bush was appearing Sunday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Bush ducked and wasn't hit by either shoe. Bush joked, saying that all he can report was that it was a size 10 shoe, then calmly took questions.

This is apparently one of the worst insults that can be leveled at someone in the Middle East. A sign of the true progress in Iraq is that this reporter has not had his hands chopped off, been beaten, or shot in the head, which would have been likely consequences if Bush had been Saddam Hussein. Isn't it terrible what American involvement in Iraq has done for those people? Tsk, tsk.

Much of the Muslim world is celebrating the actions of this reporter, which shows just how badly Muslims view Americans. Fortunately, not everyone displays such an abysmal lack of gratitude, as some Iraqis -- including the other reporter present -- are fiercely condemning the episode.

Anyway, several bloggers have already grabbed onto the obvious comparison with this incident:

I guess when you get used to having insults like "Bushitler" and all the other glorious things the Left has thrown at him for the past eight years, a shoe is no big deal.

There's my two cents.