Sealing the Well

The New York Times ^ | 1/12/2003 | Thomas Friedman

[Utah Girl]

Ping

[Mo1]

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[aynrandfreak]

Notice the way this Friedman the Apologist glosses over the anti-Americanism.

[LarryM]

Friedman is an Arab-loving turd.

[Broward Lion]

The majority of Arab Moslems will hate us until we let them destroy Izrael. The good news is thet we now have a president who see these a**holes for what they are and is willing to destroy thr radicals in all their havens. We have more than enough bullets.

If you are against Izrael you are against the word of God.
The God of the moslems is not our God. Their prophet is an antichrist. How else would you explain their love for evil?

[jwfiv]

Friedman's so in love with his own reflection...he's a stomach turner.

What he does not understand that is that the Arab solution to the Israel-"Palestinian" conflict is for the Jews to die and go away.

Dubya's policy has been not neglectful, but bold and creative, in that he chooses to deal with the reality on the ground, and not wishful thinking in the clouds as x42dirtpotustraitor the rapist did for 8 long and dark years.

[Prodigal Son]

The Egyptian playwright Ali Salem says: "We have an Egyptian proverb: `The drunk is in the care of the sober.' You are the sober. Don't forget that."

Well. We might need to throw the lush in the drunk tank until he sobers up.

[boris]

"I attended Friday's noon prayers at Cairo's Al Azhar, the most important mosque in Islam."

Cruise missile or daisy cutter?...Decisions, decisions...

[Seti 1]

If you are against Izrael you are against the word of God. The God of the moslems is not our God. Their prophet is an antichrist. How else would you explain their love for evil?

It is religious bigotry like this rant that is driving the mess. I thought FR had some rules against hate. Put this same statement in with Jews or Born-again Christians substituted for muslims and see how long before you are jerked.

[beckett]

What a jerk. How I loathe this smug self-satisfied ass. Friedman is the perfect example of a top student you might have known in high school, on whose head his parents thought the sun rose and set, who moved almost effortlessly from one verablly challenging task to the next, and who somehow nonetheless never really had a single true friend.

[CobaltBlue]

>> never really had a single true friend<<

Until he finally moved away from the small-minded small town losers that were trying to drag him down to their level and into a circle of his peers, all successful achievers like himself.;^)

[Turbodog]

Why do we give billions in foreign aid to countries that teach and preach hate of America in their media, their mosque, their schools, etc.? Shouldn’t there be some strings attached? Patty Murray, be damned, or we crazy?

[okie01]

"I am not talking about what is right, or what is fair, or even what is rational. I am talking about what is."

Friedman now admits that "what is" is not rational. He's come a long way from his previous career as Arab apologist and putative Middle East "peacemaker".

One doesn't deal with the irrational by appeasing it. One corrects the misperception with a double-dose of reality. Decisive action in Iraq will go a long way toward that goal. Saddam is one of the financiers and stimulators of Palestinian unrest. Thus, his removal will constitute a major step toward moderating the region.

Then, Arafat needs to be "retired", as well. If and when a rational Palestinian Authority emerges and expresses a willingness to make peace with Israel, we can talk.

If that moment never comes, then the Palestinians will simply have to do without. And the rest of the Arab world will have to learn to live with it.

Tough.

[CobaltBlue]

From everything else I've read, this piece by Friedman is a fair and accurate report about an unfortunate situation.

[pabianice]

"What, oh what, have we done to make them hate us so? And how may we change so as to gain their good graces?"

[beckett]

Nu-uh...they hated him worse on campus.

[Steve Eisenberg]

I basically agree with Seti 1. There probably are good reasons for FR to not have precisely the same standards for pulling hateful messages depending on the target, but Broward Lion did go over my line.

The sort of thing our lion writes makes conservatives look bad. As to whether it is true or false, if there are even ten just persons in Sodom or Gemorrah, this language is not, IMHO, justified. We should rather be encouraging moderate pro-American Islam, which is a minority within Islam but certainly exists. See:

Islamic Supreme Council

[ricpic]

Bush has said to the Palestinians: "You'll get your state, if you democratize and obey the rule of law."

That's not creative enough for Friedman?

What a putz!

[RightWhale]

The God of the moslems is not our God. Their prophet is an antichrist. How else would you explain their love for evil?

That kind of diatribe has been around since medieval times, especially during the Crusades. A lot of people, Christians, too, are not buying it anymore.