Thursday, January 29, 2009

A Shoe Statue Iraqis Can Be Proud Of

Remember when the Iraqi people U.S. military tore down the giant statue of Saddam Hussein and the giant crowd watched and the lapdog media snapped pictures to show how great things were? George Bush was so proud of himself, he probably thought one day soon that the Iraqis would name streets and boulevards for occupying liberating them. Well that hasn't happened yet, but an artist in Tikrit commemorated him in a bronze statue this month though not as he might have liked or imagined.

From The NY Daily News:

A sofa-sized statue of the shoe was unveiled Thursday in Tikrit, the hometown of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Baghdad-based artist Laith al-Amari described the fiberglass-and-copper work as a tribute to the pride of the Iraqi people.

The statue is inscribed with a poem honoring Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist who stunned the world when he whipped off his loafers and hurled them at Bush during a press conference on Dec. 14.

The ex-President (ah, so good to add that "ex" part) successfully ducked both shoes, but Iraqis and billions of people around the world aren't forgetting al-Zeidi's throw any time soon. Especially now in Tikrit, they can walk by al-Amari's statue and remember it every single day.