Accidental Blogger

Denied respect and attention at home, George W. Bush recently made an unannounced visit to Iraq, hoping I am sure, to perform a victory lap of sorts in the last few remaining days in office. What greeted him there was not the confetti of a ticker tape parade, but two flying shoes aimed at his head by Iraqi journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi who called Bush a "dog" and described the projectiles as "gifts" from Iraqi widows and orphans. Acquainted as I am with a national culture of shoe throwing, let me tell you that the contempt expressed by the gesture is far greater than a pie in the face or being pelted by rotten tomatoes and eggs. I experienced conflicting emotions while watching the video (see here). Despite my nearly eight years of uninterrupted anger at Bush-Cheney, I flinched a bit at the spectacle and the blunt message of condemnation. I also felt a grudging admiration for Bush's athletic reflex in dodging the speeding footwear and at the same time wondered about the lack of agility of the Secret Service men who allowed the second shoe to fly (Iraqi president Maliki reached out to deflect the missile but missed). However, I was not at all surprised by Bush's clueless and  unrepentant response to ABC's Martha Raddatz with whom he spoke about the incident. Bush thinks that the insulting message was interesting and the Iraqis and the Iraqi press, not he, were humiliated by the action of the irate journalist who merely wanted to get on TV! Or perhaps Bush took it all in stride, smug as he is in the knowledge that truckloads of shoes thrown at him cannot match the injury and insult he has inflicted on Iraq. Read the whole interview for Bush's thoughts on the Iraq war / Al Qaida. He leaves no doubt that his presidential philosophy has been one of lies, alibis and defiance and his governing style, that of ducking and weaving.

Martha Raddatz: Let's start with what just happened. And that is someone threw a shoe at you, whether it's an Iraqi reporter?

President Bush:Yeah, I think it's a reporter. At least that's what they told me on the way out, that it's a person who works in the Iraqi press, stands up and throws his shoe. And it was amusing. I mean, I've seen a lot of weird things during my presidency and this may rank up there as one of the weirdest. On the other hand, I do remember when the president of China came to the South Lawn, and a member of the press corps started yelling. I think it was Falun Gong slogans at the Chinese president. So this happens and it's a sign of a free society.

Raddatz: It's also considered a huge insult in this world, the sole of a shoe, throwing a shoe.

Bush: I guess. Look they were humiliated. The press corps, the rest of the Iraqi press corps was humiliated. These guys were just besides themselves about, they felt like he had disgraced their entire press corps and I frankly, I didn't view it as, I thought it was interesting, I thought it was unusual to have a guy throw his shoe at you. But I'm not insulted. I don't hold it against the government. I don't think the Iraqi press corps as a whole is terrible. And so, the guy wanted to get on TV and he did. I don't know what his beef is. But whatever it is I'm sure somebody will hear it.

The media and blogs are abuzz with the story – numerous variations of "the other shoe dropping" are making the rounds. In my opinion, the other shoe dropped long ago – with revelations about missing WMDs, Abu Ghraib, rendition of prisoners for torture, corruption in the Justice Department and the manipulation of CIA intelligence. But if that were not enough, in an interview with ABC's Jonathan Clark, Dick Cheney, the master cobbler of the Bush administration sent the last shoe flying at our faces.

KARL: But you've heard leaders, the incoming Congress, saying that this policy has basically been torture and illegal wiretapping, and that they want to undo, basically, the central tenets of your anti-terrorism policy.

CHENEY: They're wrong. On the question of terrorist surveillance, this was always a policy to intercept communications between terrorists or known terrorists, or so-called "dirty numbers," and folks inside the United States to capture those international communications….

On the question of so-called torture, we don't do torture. We never have. It's not something that this administration subscribes to. Again, we proceeded very cautiously. We checked. We had the Justice Department issue the requisite opinions in order to know where the bright lines were that you could not cross.

The professionals involved in that program were very, very cautious, very careful — wouldn't do anything without making certain it was authorized and that it was legal. And any suggestion to the contrary is just wrong. Did it produce the desired results? I think it did.

I think, for example, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was the number three man in al Qaeda, the man who planned the attacks of 9/11, provided us with a wealth of information. There was a period of time there, three or four years ago, when about half of everything we knew about al Qaeda came from that one source. So, it's been a remarkably successful effort. I think the results speak for themselves.

And I think those who allege that we've been involved in torture, or that somehow we violated the Constitution or laws with the terrorist surveillance program, simply don't know what they're talking about.

KARL:Did you authorize the tactics that were used against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?

CHENEY: I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared, as the agency in effect came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn't do. And they talked to me, as well as others, to explain what they wanted to do. And I supported it.

KARL:In hindsight, do you think any of those tactics that were used against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others went too far?

CHENEY: I don't.