Thomas L. Friedman of "Friedman Unit" fame isn't talking in F.U.'s anymore. He's talking in alarm. Says Tommy boy in his latest screed:
Here's the sad truth: 9/11, and the failing Iraq war, have sucked up almost all the oxygen in this country -- oxygen needed to discuss seriously education, health care, climate change, and competitiveness. So right now, it's mo stly governors talking about these issues, but there is so much they can do without washington being focused and leading.What? No Friedman Unit? Hmm. Even F.U. Tommy is now waking up to the unmitigated disaster that the Bushevik crusade for oil in the Middle East has become for America... and it ain't just because our soldiers are dying over there that it's a disaster.Which is why we've got to bring our occupation of Iraq to an end in the quickest, least bad way possible -- otherwise we are going to lose Iraq and America. It's coming down to that choice.
-- Badtux the Observant Penguin
Christ on a cracker. It's gotten so bad that even the spectacularly stupid Friedman can't pretend any longer? We really are in trouble.
ReplyDeleteSo now we know the answer to that age old question: "How bad must things get before even Republicans and their professional apologists start catching on?"
Now, if only someone could clue the Democrats in...
Hello, Mr Penguin.
ReplyDeleteA good post, but I see one popular fallacy here that could stand correction.
Namely, the invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with acquiring the oil fields there. That was icing on the cake, but not the cake itself.
And speaking with people more knowledgable than myself on this, I see why this is so. The US has plenty of sources of oil without Iraq. The embargo proved this. Iraqi oil still isn't flowing out of the country at capacity.
The truth is a bit more insidious, that the invasion of Iraq was motivated primarily by personal vendetta, not oil.
Well, P.T., that explains why the Chimperor took us into Iraq. It doesn't explain why we're still there, four years later after Saddam's neck has been stretched like a rubber band.
ReplyDeleteNobody has ever provided to me a satisfactory explanation of why we're still in Iraq. The given explanations ("war on terrorism" blah blah blah) don't pass the giggle test -- the dude who attacked us on 9/11 is in *PAKISTAN*, not *IRAQ*. As you note, "oil" is not an entirely satisfactory reason either. I picked "oil" out of the air as just some placeholder for whatever insane reason the Chimperor has for keeping us in Iraq.
- BadTux the Oily Penguin
sucked up all the oxygen -- good one...
ReplyDeleteproblem is the oxygen was all sold eons ago...when they aired the first survivor show...
The reason why we're still there at this point is because of Bush's personal ego. This is his war, and for him to withdraw would, in his mind, be tantamount to admitting that he made a mistake in going to war (and to a lesser extent, the same holds true of the neocons).
ReplyDeleteI don't think either terrorism or oil has anything to do with it at this point. It's all about his petty personal ego trip.