NYT Friedman: Big Talk, Little Will

[grytpype]

Looks like Friedman has sworn off the crazy pills for good!

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/08/16/opinion/16Friedman.html?hp

Good part excerpted below...

Big Talk, Little Will

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: August 16, 2006

...

Oh, really? Well, I just have one question for Mr. Cheney: If we’re in such a titanic struggle with radical Islam, and if getting Iraq right is at the center of that struggle, why did you “tough guys” fight the Iraq war with the Rumsfeld Doctrine — just enough troops to lose — and not the Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force to create the necessary foundation of any democracy-building project, which is security? How could you send so few troops to fight such an important war when it was obvious that without security Iraqis would fall back on their tribal militias?

Mr. Cheney, if we’re in a titanic struggle with Islamic fascists, why have you and President Bush resisted any serious effort to get Americans to conserve energy? Why do you refuse to push higher mileage standards for U.S. automakers or a gasoline tax that would curb our imports of oil? Here we are in the biggest struggle of our lives and we are funding both sides — the U.S. military with our tax dollars and the radical Islamists and the governments and charities that support them with our gasoline purchases — and you won’t lift a finger to change that. Why? Because it might impose pain on the oil companies and auto lobbies that fund the G.O.P., or require some sacrifice by Americans.

Mr. Cheney, if we’re in a titanic struggle with Islamic fascists, why do you constantly use the “war on terrorism” as a wedge issue in domestic politics to frighten voters away from Democrats. How are we going to sustain such a large, long-term struggle if we are a divided country?

Please, Mr. Cheney, spare us your flag-waving rhetoric about the titanic struggle we are in and how Democrats just don’t understand it. It is just so phony — such a patent ploy to divert Americans from the fact that you have never risen to the challenge of this war. You will the ends, but you won’t will the means. What a fraud!

Friends, we are on a losing trajectory in Iraq, and, as the latest London plot underscores, the wider war with radical Islam is only getting wider. We need to reassess everything we are doing in this “war on terrorism” and figure out what is worth continuing, what needs changing and what sacrifice we need to demand from every American to match our means with our ends. Yes, the Democrats could help by presenting a serious alternative. But unless the party in power for the next two and half years shakes free of its denial, we are in really, really big trouble.

[OwnedByFerrets]

1. Wow, great piece of writing......

but I have to ask.....WHY DOES FRIEDMAN HATE AMERICA? :sarcasm:

[Kagemusha]

2. It's certainly a different tune from him.

Nothing like an honest believer betrayed.

[Solly Mack]

3. piffle...it's still a debate on how an illegal invasion should have

been fought instead of addressing the real issue...that the illegal invasion should never have happened to begin with

Bush lied and then America invaded a country for those lies. And on top of that first crime, America went on to illegally imprison the Iraqi people and to tortur them.

Making the invasion wrong, regardless of how it woulda/coulda/shoulda been carried out. A "win" won't make the invasion of Iraq any less criminal.

Such debate serves nothing more than to legitimize America's crime of illegally invading a country for lies. As it frames the debate in terms of the methods used in committing a crime instead of the actual crime itself.


Whether a thieve goes through a window with a knife or the door with a gun, he's still a thieve and it's still a crime. The method doesn't matter.

[Demeter]

4. Friedman's Still Crazy

Today's column is a case in point--lots of hawk talk. It's just that sometimes Reality whacks you so hard that you have to pay a little attention.

[grytpype]

8. You're right, this is the "hawk who admits Bush effed up the war" position

[hadrons]

5. took Friedman 6 "6 month peroids" to figure this out ....

[Beetwasher]

6. Sorry, I Will NOT Forgive Friedman Or Welcome Him Into The Fold

Fuck him. There is blood on HIS delusional hands. Now he wakes up? And then there's this:

"Yes, the Democrats could help by presenting a serious alternative."

Asshole. What does he expect the Dems to do? They DO have a "serious" alternative, phased withdrawal from Iraq, plus a comprehensive border and ports security plan, but they can't implement it or give very many details until they can open the books and see what the REAL picture looks like. It's like asking someone to fix your plumbing while wearing a blindfold. The secrecy of Bushco. makes it impossible for the Dems to give any fine details about their plans because the details of what the REAL situation is with just about anything in the government right now is a secret, and the info that's available can't be trusted.

Fuck you Friedman. Good for you that your waking up, but don't expect any backslaps from me. I don't want you on my side, you'll stab me in the back first chance you get.

[DinahMoeHum]

7. Even a blind pig finds a truffle every now and then.

n/t