Salva Kiir signed South Sudan's constitution while wearing a hat from George W. Bush. Sudan leader's hat tip to Bush

When the new nation of South Sudan’s leader, Salva Kiir, signed his country’s constitution this weekend, he did so while wearing a cowboy hat given to him by former President George W. Bush.

Bush gave Kiir the black Stetson in 2006, according to the blog of the Middle East Institute. The hat instantly became Kiir’s trademark, and the institute said he has not been photographed without it since.


Conservative blogs were quick to celebrate South Sudanese independence as a major victory for the former president, who pushed for the 2005 accord with Sudan’s government that allowed for the south to secede.

“What a triumph for former president George W. Bush!” Right Wing News proclaimed.

And Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit wrote that “Bush liberated more than 50,000,000 people during his time in office. Today the people of South Sudan were liberated thanks to his efforts.”

The New York Times reported revelers in the new South Sudanese capital of Juba this weekend loudly thanked Bush his role in the 2005 agreement.

One man, the paper said, held a sign that read “Thank You George Bush.”

The Los Angeles Times quoted a Sudanese writer and professor who credited Bush for his nation’s independence.

“It was George Bush and the Christian fundamentalists who heard the cry of South Sudan,” Tabon li Liyong told the paper. “Today is Barack Obama’s day. We don’t know what he is going to do.”