Iraqis Build Monument To The Shoe Thrower
And it’s something we Americans can be proud of.
Assisted by children at the home, sculptor Laith al-Amiri erected a brown replica of one of the shoes hurled at Bush and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by journalist Muntadhir al-Zaidi during a press conference in Baghdad. The shoe monument, made of fiberglass and coated with copper, consists of the shoe and a concrete base. The entire monument is 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) high. The shoe is 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) long and 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) wide.
There was a time when the dissent of the sort the shoe-thrower displayed, crass and inappropriate as it was, would have earned him a death sentence. And probably some ill-treatment for his friends and family. But in today’s Iraq the dissent is tolerated, as are monuments celebrating it.
America did that, and with no help from Obama or the Democrats.
Frankly, I’m proud of the statue.
You’re welcome, Iraqis.
