Thomas Friedman on Face the Nation this past Sunday (5/20/12):
You know, I believed from the beginning we had four choices in Afghanistan, Bob: lose early, lose late, lose big, or lose small. And, you know, my hope was that we would lose small and early.
Thomas Friedman in the New York Times, November 2, 2001:
A month into the war in Afghanistan, the hand-wringing has already begun over how long this might last. Let’s all take a deep breath and repeat after me: Give war a chance.
Selective memory is a must when you’re an op-ed writer.
Bastards like Friedman don’t give war a chance.
They rig the whole goddamn casino for it.
mr “friedman unit” wanted a short war? so it ain’t so…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_Unit
I remember watching Charlie Rose at the beginning of the Iraq war and they cut to this quick segment of Charlie speaking to Friedman (not as a studio guest, but remotely), and it was frightening how passionately pro-war he was. He spewed all of the WMD rhetoric.
For sure there are so many double-tongued snakes like Friedmsn out there.
Friedman is a Zionist, first, last and forever…a snake for the ages.
Why has Friedman remained such an important voice to a good many liberals. Has he lost importance in his role as an op-ed for the NYTimes?
I don’t understand how he is even remotely consider a “liberal”. Is it because he has The New York Times attached to his name, and his knuckles don’t drag on the floor quite as much as a typical right-wing war monger? The guy is a useless waste of space. Of course, they still give people like Friedman, Kissinger, and now Predator Done man Obama Nobel Prizes for whatever inane reason.
Far be it for me to defend either Friedman or Rose, but I do recall the atmosphere at the time we invaded Afghanistan. We had been attacked and were retaliating. And indeed we had that war in control — until our attention was diverted by Bush II to Iraq.
WHY is Friedman StillOn?!
“my hope was that we would lose small and early.”
So said Friedman in retrospect. So did I. So DO I, about every Constant War that this country embarks upon. Doesn’t mean my brain is carved in stone.
Could be his isn’t either.
Personally, I remain open to hear what the man thinks and why.
Friedman is the kind of married into wealth dilettante that allows him to be a constant guest on many of the Sunday talk shows. That and to travel to many places to get fodder for articles and books that is part of the soft peddled alternate world of the Reich wing that still gets across the war mongering empire the US has become. He just sounds more reasonable than the extremists out there. Since they never hear from those who are not only against war but are intelligent and articulate and experienced which are shunned from most of the corporate media.
Judging only by the content of the anti-Friedman posts above, and not a regular reader of blogs and comments, I am learning from this thread that “left wingers” can produce screed that is just as vitriolic and thoughtless as the “right wingers.” No columnist is always “on”, but I find Friedman thoughtful and open.
“Zionist”? “Bastard”? “…married into wealth dilettante”? “Snake”? Thanks for the great logical reasoning, folks.
@Wayne: Ohhhh, having to read the truth about Thomas-the-War-Engine isn’t music to your dainty ears? Take a few hours and do the homework yourself on the history of Friedman’s past pugilistic quotes and today’s backtracking..and maybe then you will understand why we call him out.
A bit of Friedman for you to chomp on:
“Critics of Friedman’s position on the Iraq War have noted his recurrent assertion that “the next six months” will prove critical in determining the outcome of the conflict. A May 2006 study by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting cited 14 examples of Friedman’s declaring the next “few months” or “six months” as a decisive or critical period, dating from in November 2003, describing it as “a long series of similar do-or-die dates that never seem to get any closer.””.
When their side is making good solid arguments they go to the false equivalence that “they all do it” as a means of escape. I say the nay Wayne.
Never a shortage of war-mongers spewing every lie ever concocted in the name of the national interest, national defense, and even democracy, given all the money at stake. Where is President Eisenhower’s farewell message, when we need to remember it? Conveniently forgotten, of course, as we endure endlessly published and promoted nonsense from the likes of Friedman. We don’t even bother to borrow Kissinger’s misleading “Peace Plan” slogan, and the once trumpeted “Peace Dividend” disappeared long ago, well before the “Bank Bailout” arrived. How many more lies can we afford?
I recall that T. Freidman also said that in a little time that we would find out whether Iraq was as it was because of Saddam Hussein, or Saddam Hussein was as he was because of Iraq. We have never heard the assessment. J.S.L.