... To me--to many--this is alarming proof of the depth of Arab impotence, of the Lilliputian self-image that drives Muslim Arabs to take to terrorism, to assault that which they cannot comprehend. The irony that has been lost on them is the fact that in the entire Arab world, only in Bushified Iraq could such an act of protest be possible. As Ralph Peters wrote on Dec. 16, "If an Arab journalist had thrown his shoes at Saddam Hussein or one of his guests, the tosser would've been beaten, then tortured, then killed. Today's Iraqi government is considering whether the man should be charged under the state's democratically validated Constitution."

In the meantime, offers are being made by proud Arabs for Muntader's shoes, offers running to millions of dollars. Various shoemakers in Turkey, in Lebanon, in Egypt, are claiming they cobbled together the pair that was hurled into the history books. All of this would be rather funny if it weren't so completely pathetic ... so utterly, ineffably sad. The people who lionize Muntader do not deserve our contempt. They are too childlike for our scorn. What they deserve, instead, is our pity, as we wait--perhaps for an eternity--for them to ask themselves: Is this the best we can do?