The Mustache of Understanding:
The reason the Iraq war was, is and will remain important is that it created the first chance for Arab Sunnis and Shiites to do something they have never done in modern history: surprise us and freely write their own social contract for how to live together and share power and resources. If they could do that, in the heart of the Arab world, and actually begin to ease the intra-communal struggle within Islam, it would be a huge example for others. It would mean that any Arab country could be a democracy and not have to be held together by an iron fist from above.
But it will be impossible without Iraqi Shiite and Sunni Mandelas ready to let the future bury the past.
What’s strange about this is that previously Friedman told me that there were three bubbles, one of which was a terrorism bubble. And the reason the Iraq War was important was that we needed to go over to Iraq and take out a very big stick and travel from Baghdad to Basra telling the people there to suck on it. This, he told me, was the way to pop the terrorism bubble. We could have done this in Pakistan or somewhere else, but we chose Iraq because we could do it easily. But, now, he tells me that the war in Iraq is important because it will teach Muslims of different sects to get along with each other.
I’d also like to point out that asking if we should care about what goes on in Iraq “now that we’re leaving,” is a half a Friedman Unit short of six-pack. We’re not leaving.
As nasty as it was, I think Friedman’s “Suck on This” moment was the only honest answer we ever got on why we went to war.
Booman,
I give you a lot of credit for being able to read his muddled columns. It’s like listening to a 2 year old tell a story where they are just discovering words and stringing them into sentences just for the pure act of talking non-stop.
I got thru the first paragraph and then really needed to find that missing six-pack to get thru the rest.
This:
is what Friedman deserves more of.
had never seen this, thanks for posting. he just couldn’t tough it out could he. and what’s with the weird jean paul sartre garb?
ugh, he is just hateful to look at, and the fact that he’s still on the Times op-ed page lends him credibility he doesn’t deserve (my dad still reads tommy suck-on-it).
Remember that awful Michael Kelly? He was the Washington Post reporter who went out of his way to write columns agitating for war in Iraq, and who then went over to cover the exciting war and died when the jeep he was in crashed into a ditch full of sewage.
Would that Friedman had been along for the ride.
I’ll always remember this the last thing I will certainly ever read by that little punk, about how Israel was “educating” gazans by blowing up buildings that just so happened to have innocent people inside. He called this admirable “restraint”.
I’m not surprised that widdle tommy is now offering that the chaotic destruction of the Iraqi regime was a “gift” not just to Iraqis but the entire Arab world. The guy is a pathetic little psychopath.