Friedman got something right..

[ewagner]

On Imus this morning. When he finally got around to talking about Iraq and the WOT in general, he said that the true war on terror is a war of ideas. He said that the bargain between rulers in many Arab states and the Jihadists is what is fueling terrorism and we have to confront these ideas with better (in Friedman's mind: modernists) ideas.

Perhaps the biggest failure in Bushco's WOT is that he sees everything in terms of military and political strength: the proverbial "blunt hammer" approach. Until and unless Western Powers deal with the idealogical side of the equation, we will never win the war on terror.

To his credit, Friedman said that the consequence of not confronting these ideas, and, consequently let the Jihadists win, is a true war between the West and Islam. He's got that right.

Finally.

[Bonhomme Richard]

1. Interesting on the Daily show last night he said,...................

when asked by Jon whether the mess in Iraq could be salvaged, that maybe not by this bunch, meaning this administration.

[ewagner]

2. Saw that too

He's pretty disillusioned with this group I think.

[Sticky]

3. HA!

I was just about to post the same thing.

...2 great minds :pals:

[Bonhomme Richard]

4. I think that maybe we are beginning to see the light.

Friedman has all along been trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear regarding the middle east. I thought this was a big turnaround for him.

[President Jesus]

5. Wait, I thought the consensus was Bushco is TOO ideological

What Friedman is pointing out here is hardly groundbreaking. This has been said for a decade. Frankly, it's a little 'pie in the sky' and not very useful for our situation right now.

The people who are in al Qaeda do need to be captured or killed...they are simply not going to wake up one day and change their mind. I believe the real turning point will come when Arab/Muslim countries themselves start apprehending these chumps instead of making a foreign power (ie US) come in with a heavy hand, subsequently making everything worse.

There is nothing that I've seen in Bush*'s foreign policy that would get us to that point.

[GreenArrow]

6. Friedman is wrong, as usual

The "war" on terror (more properly, terra) is basically a ploy to steal the rescources of developing countries and to make them, if not like it, at least accept it. See, you like Coke. You want Nike. You need Hollywood Movies and American TV. It's nothing more than make the world safe for corportate predators.

There is a war of ideas, allright, but it's nothing like Friedman, a pure journalistic whore, wants to pretend it is.