Bush mockery from Kuwaiti singer [VIDEO]

By Evan Derkacz
Posted on February 5, 2007, Printed on November 27, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers//47661/

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Juan Cole notes that Bush isn't hated in the Arab world so much as he's mocked:

When I hear Bush and Cheney keep talking about "getting the job done" in Iraq, the thing that most amazes me is that they don't know they are laughingstocks in the region. It isn't just that they are widely hated, or distrusted, or viewed as failures. It is that people are laughing at them. No surge can fix that.

Shams, a singer from Kuwait, has released a video (right) that has become rather popular in the Middle East. The song is called "Ahlan Ezzayak-featuring George Bush" (Ahlan Ezzayak is Egyptian dialect meaning "welcome, how are you doing"). The video itself is pretty funny. Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld and Cheney all get some coverage in it, as well as Shams chasing after American soldiers, who flee to avoid being hit her with shoe.

A few of things here. First, the video has gotten a lot of play in the Middle East. The singer is Kuwaiti, and the Kuwaitis, for a few decades, have been people in the Middle East most supportive of America and American actions. The fact that this video comes from a Kuwait says something. Third, the recording company Rotana, dropped Shams after the video was made. It is owned by Saudi Prince Waleed bin Talal and it is felt by some that the singer's anti-American feelings might have been behind it. Odd then, that she is later signed by a company with American backing.

Also important from the video is her blatant linking of the war in Iraq and the wider Palestinian struggle. Notice her walking into the sunset with a well known symbol of Palestinian resistance, the cartoon character Handalah created by Naji al-Ali. As she walks into the sunset hand in hand with Handalah she is wearing a wedding dress, clearly wedding the concept of Iraq and Palestinian resistance to American, and hence Israeli, aggression.

Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs.

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