Irony Is For Suckers

Ah, for the days when conservatives boasted of Baghdad avenues named after the glorious George W. Bush. This is the scene in the Iraqi capitol today, in protest of the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement, as recorded by the AP’s Hamza Hendawi:

Followers of a Shiite cleric on Friday stomped on and burned an effigy of President George W. Bush in the same central Baghdad square where Iraqis beat a toppled statue of Saddam Hussein with their sandals five years earlier.

Chanting and waving flags, thousands of Muqtada al-Sadr’s followers filled Firdous Square to protest a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact that would allow American troops to stay for three more years. The Bush effigy was placed on the same pedestal where U.S. Marines toppled the ousted dictator’s statue in one of the iconic images of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

That’s got to hurt. The place where Saddam’s statue was! Bush will go to his grave never quite understanding how a people ravaged by his military occupation and his, uh, nuanced views about torture would ever treat him so shabbily. (Bonus fun fact: the Marine who put the American flag on the statue of Saddam in 2003 is Ed Chin, a fellow member of the Bronx High School of Science Class of 1998.)

Far be it for me to stop a good irony-infused effigy-burning by remarking that the Status of Forces Agreement actually ends the occupation. Till then, I’m happy to have an incoming president who won’t, like, be burned in effigy. At least not for awhile.

Crossposted to The Streak.