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Saturday, July 23, 2005

Friedman's just another word for something dumb to say

Along the lines of my disgust with Globaloney Tom's absurd screed from yesterday, the WSWS points out not only the vileness of his op-ed, but the hypocrisy of it as well.

Friedman yesterday:
After every major terrorist incident, the excuse makers come out to tell us why imperialism, Zionism, colonialism or Iraq explains why the terrorists acted. These excuse makers are just one notch less despicable than the terrorists and also deserve to be exposed.
WSWS, today:
Friedman’s statements are all the more contemptible given that he himself predicted that the war might lead to attacks. In a column published on December 8, 2002 Friedman wrote that it was necessary to prepare people “to deal with the blowback any US invasion will produce.” He stated that if the war is not managed correctly, and the right justifications are not put in the forefront, the United States would be seen as an aggressor and “the world will become an increasingly dangerous place for every American.”
WSWS continues:
Friedman has a personal interest in preventing any serious discussion of responsibility for the consequences of the war, inasmuch as he was one of those who employed his position as an opinion-maker to justify the invasion of Iraq. He knew that the Bush administration’s case for war consisted of lies, or what he once called “phony reasons.”

While peddling every one of the administration’s lies on one occasion or another, Friedman himself has focused on two causes. He has more than once acknowledged that the war was waged, at least in part, to secure control of Persian Gulf oil resources. On January 5, 2003 he wrote, “Any war we launch in Iraq will certainly be—in part—about oil... I have no problem with a war for oil.”
...
In his column he denounces “those who spread hate,” saying he wants to compile a list of “those religious leaders and writers who are inciting violence against others.” These people must be exposed, he says, because “words matter.”

Yes, words do matter, and Thomas Friedman is one of those who bear political and moral responsibility for the American and Iraqi deaths caused by the policies that he has so dishonestly and cynically advocated and condoned.
Amen to that. Friedman is truly one of the most despicable characters in America today.