In case you didn't know, George Bush had two shoes thrown at him at a press conference in Iraq. A local journalist did it. Now, I've got to say, that's pretty horribly unprofessional. But he's just been through a war, so I guess we can forgive the lapse.

The headline I was interested in was this one:

"Thousands demand release of Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at George W Bush"

Thousands of Iraqis have taken to the streets to demand the release of a reporter who threw his shoes at President George Bush.

...

Newspapers across the Arab world printed front-page photos of Bush ducking the flying shoes and satellite TV stations repeatedly aired the incident, which provided fodder for jokes and was hailed by the president's many critics in the region.

"Iraq considers Sunday as the international day for shoes," said a text message circulating around the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Many users of the popular internet networking site Facebook posted the video of the incident to their profile pages, showing al-Zeidi leap from his chair as Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki were about to shake hands.

I am stoked with this. And I think all the countries involved in the War in Iraq should be too. Here's why.

- Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets demanding political action. No one was killed by the Government.
- Newspapers printed stories and editorials with freedom. No news outlets were shut down and no journalists tortured.
- Iraqis were able to post their opinions on Facebook and in text messages with impunity. No one was arrested and killed by the Government.

Great success! I'm really glad this happened. It's shown me that Iraq can function as a democratic society, with freedom of the press (and hopefully) the rule of law. Because the guy was arrested. And hopefully he will be dealt with lawfully and fairly. This is good news.
Like it or not, Australia was involved with this war. We've become part of Iraq's history. We could have hoped that it would turn out well. It didn't look likely. It still might not. But this incident has given me hope that it can.

Iraqis taking to the streets to protest something other than another government killing spree? Good news, in my book. I see progress.

What do you guys think? Have I misread this? Is this bad news? I am willing to admit I could be wrong about this.