Friedman: ‘I Don’t Apologize’ For Believing Iraqi Democracy Could Come From U.S. Occupation

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/17/friedman-apologize/

Friedman: ‘I Don’t Apologize’ For Believing Iraqi Democracy Could Come From U.S. Occupation

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman was one of the traditional media’s most vocal advocates for the invasion of Iraq. On Feb. 5, 2003, he said, “I think I get this war, and, on balance, I think it is a risk worth taking.” On March 9, 2003, he added, “Regime change in Iraq is the right choice for Iraq, for the Middle East and for the world. Mr. Bush is right about that.”

As Iraq has deteriorated, Friedman has criticized Bush’s execution of the war and has even called for “disengagement” himself. Yet, he remains steadfast in his initial war support. On the Charlie Rose show yesterday, Friedman stated, “I’m not going to apologize” for his lofty dreams of democratization in the Middle East, alleging that Iraqis “craved” regime change:

ROSE: You wanted to see something that could change the Middle East.

FRIEDMAN: Right, exactly. And I don’t apologize for that. I’m not going to apologize for thinking that if we could find a way to collaborate with people there to build a different future in the heart of that world, which is afflicted by so many pathologies, that that wouldn’t be a really good thing.

Watch it at link~

Friedman is engaging in a classic version of “the incompetence dodge.” As Matt Yglesias and Sam Rosenfeld wrote:

Most liberal hawks are willing to admit only that they made a mistake in trusting the president and his team to administer the invasion and occupation competently. … The incompetence critique is, in short, a dodge — a way for liberal hawks to acknowledge the obviously grim reality of the war without rethinking any of the premises that led them to support it in the first place. {…}

Left-of-center opinion neither will nor should follow a group of people who continue to insist that the march to Baghdad was, in principle, the height of moral policy thinking. If interventionism is to be saved, it must first be saved from the interventionists.

In the interview, Friedman applauds himself for “checking his politics at the door” and supporting Bush’s grand visions prior to the invasion. Friedman may have softened his criticisms of Bush, but he frequently blasted the judgments of war critics before and during the war.

On Jan. 22, 2003, he attacked liberals for failing to recognize that “regime change in Iraq is not some distraction from the war on al Qaeda.” For years following the invasion, he repeatedly called for undue “six months” of patience in Iraq, giving rise to the now-infamous “Friedman Unit.”

[aquart]

1. Thomas Friedman remains an idiot. This is not news.

[EFerrari]

2. Killing nearly a million Iraqis doesn't qualify as "collaboration".

:puke:

[CatWoman]

3. I watched some of that interview last night

you should have heard me yelling at the tv screen :)

[xxqqqzme]

6. did you hear me?

I never watch Charlie Rose but for some reason I went there last night - curious to see which neo-con hack he was allowing to spew venom - and there was fried-brain - is he looking fat or what? I put up w/ it long enough to hear him say he doesn't/won't apologize for being a cheerleader. I would have screamed louder but everyone was asleep.

[babylonsister]

7. I did, too, up way past my bedtime with a few beers under my belt:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1604893&mesg_id=1604893

[theoldman]

4. Everyone hates to admit that they made a mistake.

It takes a real man or woman to admit they made a mistake.

[DURHAM D]

5. A friend who is an economics professor told me many years ago -

(and long before the Iraq war) that Friedman is on the payroll of the Israeli government.

I have no idea if that is true but gives some insight into how he is viewed by academics.

[La Coliniere]

8. This bobble headed corporatist

opinion maker doesn't have the fortitude to admit his serious lack of judgement in agreeing with the justification for mass distruction and suffering. What a putz!

[hatrack]

9. You don't have to "apologize", Tom - just admit you're a dumbass!

And if that's too much, just admit you're really seriously overpaid!

:eyes:

[rockymountaindem]

10. I had to read "The World is Flat" for a college course

He's soooo vapid. I can't believe anybody on the "left" (however one defines it) takes him seriously.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

11. let me guess SIX MONTHS FROM NOW?

amazing

[Jack Rabbit]

12. This doesn't surprise me

During the run up to the war, I frequently excoriated Friedman in these forums for his support of Bush's plans. As far as I could tell, the very reasons he gave for supporting the planned invasion were actually reasons to oppose them. Mr. Friedman's fallacy was in thinking that it was going to be the invasion he wanted, not the one Bush and the neoconservatives would direct.

I have my doubts that a war directed by President Friedman would have been successful, either, but it would have made a better go at it than the one that will go down in the history books as one of the most disastrous strategic blunders ever.

Bush stole the election of 2000 and after the September 11 attacks began systematically dismantling the Bill of Rights and other constitutional guarantees of civil liberties. We can add even more antidemocratic behavior to the Bush Regime now, such as using the Justice Department to cage voters, illegally wiretapping American citizens, suspending Habeas Corpus. Nevertheless, even at the fall of 2002, when the regime ratcheted up the drumbeat for war, there was enough to know that Bush and members of his regime were not interested in democratizing Iraq or anywhere else. In fact, they hate democracy and have done everything possible to dismantle it in the United States. If Friedman thought that democratization of Iraq and the rest of the Middle East was important and an achievable goal, he should have opposed Bush's planned invasion at least until Bush was safely out of power.

What possessed Friedman to trust the Bush Regime to bring democracy to Iraq? He was wrong to do so and should have been aware of it.

[GreenTea]

13. Extremely wealthy, supporter of Israel, closet republican, who like so many ignore the fact

that the Iraq invasion was a corporate war for profit and continues to be.

Idiots and liars like Friedman still pretend Bush's war is about strategy & democracy & terrorism....It pisses me off to no end!!!

It's simply a war for corporate profits...look who is benefiting from hundreds of billions of our tax dollars (and we will be sending hundreds of billions more dollars next year and the year after).

These same republican corporations who support Bush and the war/occupation - they also own & control the media....They are stealing billions of dollars; LOCKHEED-MARTIN, ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS, HALLIBURTON, KELLOGG BROWN & ROOT, BLACKWATER, BWX TECHNOLOGIES, GENERAL ELECTRIC, BECHTEL, NORTHROP GRUMMAN, RAYTHEON, THE BOEING COMPANY, GENERAL DYNAMICS, BAE SYSTEMS INC.

And how about the oil industry/corporations like EXXON & the rest, stealing unmetered Iraq oil & claiming the rights to future exploitation...hundreds of billion to trillions of dollars more for them, as they shamelessly gouge us every day at the pump for even more profits...

As this oil administration, BushCo just smiles, along with the MSM continues to lie, distort and keep us in fear and focused elsewhere, anywhere, except, the truth about this war/occupation for profit.

Someone tell me this is not a war/occupation for profit that our kids (mostly poor) who are dying everyday for the corporate republican lies?

BushCo the pretend Christian, has all his supporters believing it's about terrorism, democracy and strategy and every talking on the right & left continues to talk the same bullshit...when it's crystal clear to us the occupation is nothing more than about profits!

Who would disagree?

[theoldman]

14. Who would disagree?

Anyone who hates the truth, that's who.

[Vinnie From Indy]

15. Friedman is a liar, propagandist and operative

Tell everyone you know!