Deepak Chopra: George W. Bush Has Been Throwing Shoes at Us

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/george-w-bush-has-been-th_b_151536.html


Deepak Chopra
Posted December 16, 2008 | 04:17 PM (EST)
George W. Bush Has Been Throwing Shoes at Us


Most commentators took the shoe-throwing incident that happened over the weekend as a bit of grotesque political slapstick. The Iraqi television reporter who threw his shoes at President Bush apparently considered himself a martyr, according to a note he passed to a colleague on the spot. No doubt he anticipated some extremely cruel reprisal for his symbolic protest. It's up in the air what will happen to Muntadar al-Zeidi. The fact that he became an instant hero in the Arab street carries small significance in the West, since that tinder box doesn't need even a spark to ignite it.

We continually fail, it seems, to view our Middle Eastern disaster through global eyes. A momentary insult hurled at America -- or at Mr. Bush personally, if that was the primary intent -- is a minuscule rebuke for the countless insults the rest of the world has had to bear. The unilateral invasion of Iraq was an insult to our allies, who had been naive enough to trust in six decades of cooperation through NATO and the UN. The distortion and outright lying about Saddam's imminent threat to the United States was an insult to everyone's intelligence. The placing of responsibility for 9/11 on Saddam's shoulders was an insult to the truth.

As he makes the rounds of exit interviews, Mr. Bush continues to throw shoes at us. His "So what?" attitude toward the disaster he created is the first shoe, the second is his blind assertion that the war in Iraq is close to victory. Informed Middle East experts, the very sort he ignored at the outset of his military adventures, point to a fragile peace that could be shattered at any moment. The Sunni population of Baghdad has been ethnically cleansed. Sadr City remains a powder keg. Half of the country's two million Christians have been wiped out or forced into exile. Civilian casualties since the invasion, counting the losses in sectarian attacks, amount to 150,000 at the very least and could be over 600,000 -- no one knows.

For Mr. Bush to ignore these brutal facts and try to paper them over with slogans about democracy and victory must have something to do with the shoes hurled at him. It's heartbreaking to think of the pent-up rage and sorrow that lie behind the act. Those feelings are far from being quelled. Should Iraq turn into a Shiite theocracy with anti-American leanings, a fate that seems to be in the offing, Mr. Bush will have another thing to say "So what?" about, but at least he'll be doing it in private.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. viewing through global eyes

This is exactly what we need to do--and hopefully will do with Obama at the helm.

[balantz]

2. Thank you Mr. Chopra. May more brave truth tellers follow your lead. n/t

[HillWilliam]

3. Shoes? Mr Chopra is kind in his analogies

From where I sit, * has been scraping whatever he stepped in at the pig-farm and flinging that, for all I can tell.

Feh and good riddance on the monkey that's been occupying the WH. If there's a deity, the monkey and his ilk will be occupying adjoining cells for their crimes.

[Gregorian]

4. Thank god for the forums. By sharing this, I know how others feel.

As if I wouldn't. We all know what has happened unless we lie to our self.

Behind the jokes we see the serious suffering. In fact, the jokes are a form of relief from that. A catharsis.

Today I have realized something, as I wake up without electricity for the 344th day since I began my journey to start a new life. And it's so cold that the water wouldn't flow out of the faucets. But I feel brilliant this morning. I'm healthy, for a change. And suddenly it donned on me why this war was fought. There is oil. But there is also money. I said, as I waited for the frozen water to thaw, money can have a purpose beyond the obvious. I discovered something when I hired an interior designer. I found that there are people with so much money that they can hire someone to design, build and furnish their house without them ever having played much of a part in it. I am someone who has lived by my own hands. I buy used. I make. I earn. What I have discovered this morning is that money is a way of acquiring enough things that it becomes a means of creating confidence. With just this rv I'm living in, and a bottle of propane, I'm nervous about how the heat for tonight will go. But look at Dick Cheney. He has a jet he can jump in and fly to Rome where no doubt he owns a mansion. And it is probably stocked with servants and refrigerators full and ready to go. Money gives these people a sense of security.

What I am getting at is that we are being run by INSECURE people. Obama is a long awaited switch. But I am bringing this up because Bush could call off the beatings of this man who was compelled to throw his shoe. Bush could have showed compassion for Karla Faye Tucker. No, Bush is not human. And he and Dick Cheney, and others, have earned their positions not by their desire to serve America, but by their need to serve themselves and those like them. We must be vigilant to never let this happen again. That is why we had a Constitution in the first place.

[musette_sf]

5. THIS is the type of "man of God"

who should be delivering the invocation at the inaugural, not Slick Dick Warren, enemy of women, gays and science.