[governsleastgovernsbest]

Today Show/NewsBusters ping.

[proxy_user]

I dunno. In the West we took 600 years, and numerous wars and revolutions, to go from the middle ages to the modern world. So why can;t the guys in the Middle East do it in a couple of months?

[Brilliant]

"the path from dictatorship to democracy in the region necessarily passes through a period of fundamentalist religious rule."





Well, then why is he resisting fundamentalist rule in this country?

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Here's the NewsBusters column on Friedman's recent, previous appearance on Today during which he suggested we might be winning in Iraq:

http://newsbusters.org/node/4168

[AntiGuv]

I said all along, you don't go in the Middle East from Saddam to Jefferson without going through Khomenei.

It's interesting that Friedman said this all along, considering that no country in the Middle East has gone "from Saddam to Jefferson" by "going through Khomenei"..

[mikey565]

I'm still waiting for Jefferson to appear in the Middle East, wonder if he'll come before breakfast?

[Mi-kha-el]

First of all, it's either Khomeini or Khamenei. Who's Khomenei?

[Dilbert56]

Friedman is a bit of an odd-ball at the NY Times - he sometimes follows facts to their logical conclusion, regardless of the politics involved. He stated before the war that liberating Iraq is integral to the War on Terror. That oppression breeds resentment and there was no greater place of oppression than Iraq. A modern, well-educated populace. A land with both oil and fresh water. They should have been thriving but Saddam crushed the people and destroyed the country.

The most irritating thing about Friedman is his emphasis on cute phrases rather than letting ideas stand on their own. This is an example of that.

[bert]

The process doesn't include haste. History is not driven by the pundits.

[johnny7]

Couric: "Is it still possible to get to Jefferson?"

Tune into AM radio Katie... they give traffic updates all the time.