Today 23rd December 2008, Kuwait Times, Kuwait's daily published the following what I wrote. For Goa-Kranti readers, I am reproducing it.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
SHOES HURLED AT BUSH - A DISGRACEFUL ACT.
This is in reference to the latest news of hurling of shoes at US President Bush in Iraq.
Shoes are essential part of human life as they protect human feet. Since time immemorial shoes have been serving human feet very well. Though shoes serve human feet well yet shoes can also use for destructive purpose. In Arab culture I noticed that using of shoes for hitting others is very rampant. Many of the Kuwaiti employers of the domestics many times use their shoes to assault their maids and other male domestic servants. Using shoes to assault human beings is like inflicting worst form of insult. This is what the Iraqi mediaman did recently when he hurled shoes at US President Bush. By hurling his shoes at Bush he did not do any physical injury to Bush but on the contrary he disgraced himself by creating a breach of trust. He was allowed into the press conference room with an understanding that he would behave decently but once inside he breached that trust. It was like committing a crime for which he deserves maximum punishment. I fail to understand how some Arabs hailed him as a hero for committing an un-heroic act. This act was an act of a coward and cheat and only such people applaud such acts.
I am sure the Iraqi mediaman who hurled the shoes at Bush must have been one of the Iraqis singing hosannas in praise of US and its president Bush for liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein's dictatorial regime. I am sure he must have been one of the Iraqis hitting Saddam’s demolished statute with his shoes along with others. When Iraq was freed from Saddam's regime the Iraqis were praising Bush and US with highest accolades but gradually they turned against US and Bush. “Ingratitude is your hallmark, oh my Iraqi friends”. What is happening in Iraq in post Saddam’s fall is not the making of US and its president. It is the making of Iraqis themselves. US is losing thousands of its precious manpower and millions of dollars to keep Iraq as one homogenous entity. If Iraq is till now remained as one entity it is only because of US’s presence there otherwise Iraq would have turned into pieces on the basis of religious, sectarian, tribal and regional factions leading to chaos not only in Iraq but also in the entire region.
One must appreciate US and its president for liquidating Saddam and his Bathist regime otherwise the danger of Saddam’s encroachment in the territories of neighbouring countries would be still there. Removing Saddam Hussein was removing fear from the minds of the leaders of neighbouring states. Saddam Hussein was terror not to non-Arab and non-Muslim nations but to Arabs, Muslims and his own Iraqi people who should be grateful to US and Bush for granting them a sense of independence even to hurl shoes at the president of the most powerful nation. I don’t think the Iraqi mediaman who threw the shoes at Bush would get courage and liberty to commit the same dastardly act during the Saddam's regime. This courage and freedom he got only because of US under president Bush. All Iraqis who are now shouting against US and Bush must be thankful to US and its president for providing them with the freedom and independence to do the same. During Saddam’s regime these very people who are craving for the exit of US presence in Iraq were living like cockroaches and slaves. They must know that it is not US that needs Iraq but it is Iraq that needs US for its protection and survival. Exiting US precense from Iraq at this point of time will be an end to the existing Iraqi sovereignity. In the absence of US presence in Iraq, different Iraqi segments will butcher their own Iraqi brothers and sisters like goats.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Safat, Kuwait”.
