January 31, 2007 -- 12:20 PM EST // //
TOM FRIEDMAN: WHO CARES IF I WAS WRONG ABOUT IRAQ? JUST GET MY ASSETS RIGHT.
A couple weeks ago, Radar magazine published a well-read piece pointing out that the pundits who were wrong about the Iraq war are not suffering professionally for their mistake but rather are getting richer even as Iraq sinks ever deeper into disaster. The piece observed that while New York Times columnist Tom Friedman was commanding only $40,000 per speech before backing the invasion, he's now "on top of the world."
Now Friedman has responded to Radar's piece. Friedman sent the following email to the mag:
Thanks for your piece on Radar[Online]. You got all your facts right, but one. We don't have a second home in Aspen, or anywhere else. I will need to get more things wrong to achieve that status. I think you might be referring to my in-laws' home, where we stay when we visit them. You seem to be interested in facts, so I figured you would want to know. All best, Tom Friedman
Friedman probably thought he was being funny in a cutting sort of way, but his flip and dismissive response to the important point raised by Radar -- that there's no accountability for pundits who get it wrong, even if it helps lead the country to disaster -- got me wondering about something.
Tom Friedman is among the most important interpreters of the Middle East for American audiences. They rely on him to explain and exercise sound judgment on a fraught and confusing part of the world whose affairs have more of an impact on us right now than any other region. That is a position of immense consequence. And the decision to back the invasion of Iraq was -- and will be -- the single most important decision of his career. He blew it, and right now he should feel like Bill Buckner felt after he let the ground ball dribble between his legs -- only infinitely worse, because by dint of his role as one of America's principle interpreters of the Middle East, he helped create a catastrophe that has destroyed thousands of families and will have untold consequences for many decades.
Yet has anyone seen a single sign anywhere that Friedman has ever suffered a moment's anguish or even self-doubt about this catastrophic failing? I haven't. If you've seen any, please send along. Look, there are no easy answers to the question of how -- or whether -- pundits like Friedman should be held accountable for getting it wrong, however disastrously. But how about a little self-imposed accountability? What about a hint of remorse? Friedman's email makes you wonder whether to him all this is anything more than a big fat joke. Who cares if I was wrong about the most important foreign policy decision this country's made in decades? Just get my assets right, please.