Hey Solder City, there's no need for that really...
John is a pretty smart bloke, and we all have different beliefs.
...He just happens to believe a lot of
wrong stuff, that's all!
(Only joshin' Jonn!)
Anyhow, I did happen to know that, but only because I read a book called "East of Wimbledon" (by Nigel Williams) about 15 years ago. -In it, the
"twenty-fourthers" (devotees to the 24th Imam) repeatedly took off one shoe and waved it at the book's central character, a London-born convert to Islam, who only 'converted' (or rather
pretended to convert) so that he could get a date with a girl... and of course he's blissfully ignorant to why these people are waving their shoes at him, which he considers a little odd.
So it was my first reaction that this was almost certainly a particularly insulting act, more so than most westerners might appreciate.
For my part, I'm not surprised. -Apparently there are now lots of demonstrations calling for the reporter's release (he's being held in custody) and he's grown rather quickly to hero status among many Iraqis, particularly the Mehdi Army and insurgents... This may yet assume rather significant overtones.
Frederick Forsyth (a former diplomat turned author, whos books are researched with meticulous detail) wrote in his book "the Fist of God" (which was a fictional story, written after -but set within- the first Gulf war) about a memo to the secretary of state or defense -I forget which- (this is all from memory, so forgive me) that Iraq would seriously risk breaking up into three distinct fractured 'nations' if the stabilizing 'police' setup under Sadaam Hussein were to be removed from power... Mr. Forsyth is a stunningly well-informed stickler for accuracy, and so this was indeed known.
-In fact it was known by no less a personage than Mr. Dick Cheney. -He knew this back at the end of the first Gulf war. -How do I know this?
Because he went on live television and said so. -He just seemed to conveniently "forget" this a dozen years later.
They completely buggered up the country, tens of thousands of people are dead, Thousands of American troops are dead, the previous contempt for America has now been stirred up into a festering hatred.
For this, the present administration DESERVES what they get. They're a castle full of rascals. Self-serving, scheming bastards, fronted by an outwardly amiable, incompetent fool.
Nathan Hale said:
"I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." ...My personal regret is that the reporter only had two shoes.
Keith