Throw a shoe at the U.S. president? That’s what Iraqi TV journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi did Sunday.

Americans are weary of the war in Iraq. Americans are very weary of the cost of the war in Iraq in dollars and lives.

However, this was an Iraqi who threw the shoe, saying the act was for the widows, orphans and people killed in Iraq. Throwing a shoe is a Middle Eastern insult. Let’s put the American views of Iraq aside and consider some of the debate it has spurred within Iraq:

Some Iraqis rightly have pointed out that if the journalist had thrown a shoe at a foreign leader during the rule of dictator Saddam Hussein, he would have been executed after a kangaroo-court trial. Al-Zeidi likely faces two to seven years in prison after going through a somewhat fair judicial process.

On the other hand, Al-Zeidi has become a folk hero to many Iraqis (and Bush opponents from elsewhere). He already has fan Web sites dedicated to him, Wikipedia already has an entry for him, and the Iraqi parliament erupted into chaos Wednesday as lawmakers argued over whether to free him from jail. He already has popularly become known simply as The Shoe Thrower. Thousands took to the streets in Iraq to protest his arrest, and his actions were heralded across the Arab world as news stations repeatedly showed footage of the shoe-throwing incident.

That’s a statement.

Al-Zeidi has apologized for throwing the shoe at Bush. To his credit, Bush has ducked the shoe deftly and has taken the insult in stride. He has said he was not bothered by the incident.

Bush need not look at the shoe-throwing incident itself, but he should look at the result it has caused in Iraq. There is greater unity building in the war-torn country against the U.S. presence.

Check out any English-speaking Arab newspaper. The incident swiftly has brought together “anti-occupation unity,” as a columnist for the Arab News in Saudi Arabia called it.

Not only is America squandering its wealth in Iraq, we have worn out our welcome, and 70 percent of Americans are ready for the troops in Iraq to come home.