Is Tom Friedman On ACID? Is He INSANE? DELUSIONAL? Holy Cow!

[Beetwasher]

Every time I visit Iraq, I leave asking myself the same question: If you total up all the positives and negatives, where does the balance come out? I'd say the score is still 4 to 4. We can still emerge with a decent outcome. And the whole thing could still end very badly. There's only one thing one can say for sure today: you won't need to wait much longer for the tipping point. Either the elections for a new governing body happen by the end of January, as scheduled, and the rout of Saddam loyalists in Falluja is consolidated and extended throughout the Sunni triangle, or not. If it's the former, there are still myriad challenges ahead, but you can be somewhat hopeful. If it's the latter, we've got a total fiasco on our hands.

--snip--

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/18/opinion/18friedman.html

What a fucking crackpot. Does he really believe his own tripe? Does he really think that some sham elections in January will change things? Does he really believe that it was SADDAM LOYALISTS in Fallujah and that they were REALLY ROUTED???

What a complete fucking, delusional nutbag this guy is. Good grief.

[annabanana]

1. This could've been written the day Bagdad "fell"....

It would at least make some sense then..

[missouri dem]

10. Iraq is fubar.

Even the brain dead will be able to see it soon. Freidman is trying to justify his early support for the war.

[salin]

2. delusional-based attempt to balance cognitive dissonance.

Classic case.

[Wright Patman]

3. He is a court jester

Every word he writes is calibrated to win the approval of or at least not piss off the ruling regime.

[Stephanie]

4. He's complicit

He's trying to salvage what he can of his soul. He rah-rahhed for the war all along, as a hawk from the left. Then he saw it was a disaster and he's trying to explain away his guilt.

[chiburb]

6. Or maybe...

He's not feeling guilty at all, but hoping to somehow, some way, be vindicated for his original stance. You're right, he was rah-rah and I suspect his motivation was really about "this will be good for Israel". As you know better than anyone, Steph, that's one of the core tenets of PNAC... and even some liberals have drunk that kool-aide.

[Stephanie]

16. That's right - he's hoping against hope that it will succeed

Because he helped make it happen. Another reason I stopped buying the Times.

[Cocoa]

5. all he has to do is read the rest of his own column

the last two thirds of this very column does not support the hope expressed in that snip you posted, or any hope at all. Friedman is saying we're past the tipping point.

[PSU84]

7. He lost all credibility long ago

He likes to think he's a hard-headed, no-nonsense realist. That he still thinks a "positive outcome" is within the realm of possibility shows how warped his outlook has become. What we're looking at in Iraq - and even more, what Iraqis are looking at - are outcomes that range from complete catastrophe to mere tragedy. The invasion and its consequences are a disaster, militarily, diplomatically, economically, and morally. Wake up and smell the cordite, Tom. It's that bitter, acrid odor that penetrates even the reek of rotting human flesh....

[midnight armadillo]

8. I thought he claimed we're in a War of Civilizations?

Funny how he seems to have left that whole idea by the wayside.

[robcon]

9. Friedman's right

He is consistently the most thorough and intelligent analyst of the Middle East today. His column should be required reading for anyone who wants to know what is really going on there.

[Bridget Burke]

11. Why don't you list some of the "positives" in Iraq.

They seem to escape me at the moment.

[rndmprsn]

12. i agree...

friedman has my respect and it goes far beyond his position on a single issue, he has been a fairly consistant voice for reason and moderation during his career...one does not agree with everything one hears, this is true and we are not always right either, i'll be the first to admit that.

[Beetwasher]

14. Hi Tom!

:hi:

:eyes:

[salin]

18. who was the conservative writer who was proven

to go onto the net to write positive reviews of his own work (under different names) and spoke as a 'promoter' of the virture of... himself... can't remember but it was a rather pathetic event...

[Beetwasher]

19. Tom Friedman?

:evilgrin:

:hi:

Hey you! How's everything?

[salin]

21. lol

not friedman - though your response made me think of hte case.

overall things are going well - am going into work a little later this morning -have been underthe weather... but that is small picture - big picture things are moving along.

hope all is well with you! :hi:

[rndmprsn]

22. haha...not friedman, but i wish i had his money

jeeze...paranoia does wierd things to otherwise rational ppl?

[Beetwasher]

23. When Did Sarcastic Humor Become Paranoia?

Jeeze, defensiveness makes people say wierd things...

[rndmprsn]

25. touche'

[Beetwasher]

13. LOL!

Yeah! Good One! :eyes:

[salin]

15. satire.... right?

[Crunchy Frog]

20. Yes, I find self delusion

and magical/wishful thinking to be part of my recipe for intelligent analysis of anything.

[Crunchy Frog]

17. He's always been on acid,

and he has had so much emotionally invested in Bush's Iraq plans that he will hang on to his delusions for as long as humanly possible and then some.

[BurtWorm]

24. He should go back on hiuatus for a few months.

It agrees with him. His hiatuses agrees with ME, for chrissake!