Dear Friedman: Fuck You
WE are not afraid to talk about this war. We have done everything to ensure it was a success. We warned Bush to bring more soldiers. We warned him to have a plan for an insurgency. We warned him not to turn his attention from the people who attacked us. We ARE talking about it. We have been talking about it from the beginning TRYING to make this a success, PRAYING we can turn this thing around. Time after time, from WMD to Mission Accomplished, Bush and his cheerleaders (i.e. Friedman) have been proven wrong about this war, and we have been proven right. And then we are accused of wanting failure?
You want to hear us talk about Iraq? Stop shutting us out of your paper! You ignore our pleas, then accuse us of keeping silent? Have you no sense of decency at all?
Make no mistake about it, if our men and women end up dying in vein, their blood is on your hands, not ours. Let us know when YOU'RE ready to talk about this war.
Well, if that's the definition of liberal, at least we know there is no liberal press. Certainly not the Times's writers and editors.
June 14, 2005 11:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Then I guess a solid majority of the country is now liberal given the latest poll results on the War and Bush.
June 15, 2005 8:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Prediction: in June 2007, Friedman will write his 25th column stating that the US can still win in Iraq, but the window of opportunity is closing and time is running out.
June 15, 2005 1:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow! Have you ever seen a rabid dog chew its own arm?! First, in the thread prior to this one, you have WinstonSmith complaining the entire media minus The New York Times and Air America have all gone Bush. Next, you have this guy Memekiller talking shit about a well respected writer for the Times for showing some backbone to God forbid dissent from the hegemonic, socialist agenda. I guess it is true, for once these days, how "the media" portrays the democrats as a bunch of loose cannons desperately pulling it's ship up alongside the Republican Machine.
It's pathetic
Im sorry I chose to be a critic, but when it's funny you have to point it out.
June 15, 2005 2:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
the best part of the column was when he talked about doubling the number of troops on the ground. sure, tom--when we've already spent hundreds of billions and public support is ebbing i'm *sure* that this idea will fly very far politically....
June 15, 2005 7:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Here's Mr "I play golf in Bangalore because the world is flat" Friedman telling us that we're not paying attention to Iraq. Sorry, Tommy baby, but we and half a billion starving Indians were just too busy admiring your backswing. But yes, you're right. Iraq, Iraq... Let's double the number of troops. Great idea! Not sure where we'll find them. But I have a suggestion for one addition: You! What don't you go play golf in Fallujah? And talk about a flat world. It's been flattened bigtime! Yes, Tommy, looks like the Marines have been reading your columns assiduously!
June 15, 2005 8:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry I agree with Friedman. I thought the war in Iraq was a good idea as an aggressive Iraq led by Saddem would have been both murderous and unstable.
We had been at war with Iraq since the armistice after the Gulf War.
What is shocking is how inept the Bush people have been in almost every phase of the war.
The ideas that murderous leader, who had already shown signs of expansionism in the heart of the worlds oil supply was untenable.
June 15, 2005 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Time for the Dems to retire the myth that this war was winnable had it been fought competently. It was not. It's the same nonsense we heard in Vietnam. De Gaulle told Johnson the US would lose: The US lost. Chirac told Bush the US would lose the peace. And the US is doing just that. Perhaps America needs to listen a little more closely to those who've been there and done that.
But to blame the fiasco on Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz is a neat thought. But it's wrong. Their crime was to start the war, not to botch it.
June 15, 2005 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink