>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Sat, 1 Oct 2005 23:51:27 EDT >Subject: New York Times' Friedman proposes "endgame" bloodbath in Iraq >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >X-ELNK-AV: 0 > >Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8" >Content-Language: en > ><http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/oct2005/frie-o01.shtml>http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/oct2005/frie-o01.shtml > >New York Times' Friedman proposes "endgame" bloodbath in Iraq > >By Bill Van Auken >1 October 2005 > >Since well before the US invaded Iraq, Thomas Friedman, the New York >Times' chief foreign affairs commentator, has been the most >enthusiastic proponent of US imperialism's neo-colonial conquest of >the country. > >Early on he served as a conduit for the right-wing ideologues in the >civilian leadership of the Pentagon-putting their phony pretexts for >war into print, while embellishing them with noble aims of bringing >"democracy" and "liberation" to the Iraqi people. > >That the newspaper identified with an erstwhile American liberal >establishment published Friedman's exhortations to war played no >small role in poisoning public opinion on the eve of the US >invasion. It helped pave the way for the ongoing tragedy that has >cost the lives of over 100,000 Iraqis and nearly 2,000 American >soldiers. > >As it became ever more apparent to the American people that they had >been dragged into an unprovoked war based upon lies about >non-existent "weapons of mass destruction" and phony claims of ties >between Baghdad and terrorism, Friedman brushed off the criminal >implications of the Bush administration's actions. > >Don't get "so tied up defending [the] phony reasons for going to >war," he counseled the White House in July 2003. Instead, he said, >it should focus on "the real and valid reason for the war: to >install a decent, tolerant, pluralistic, multireligious government >in Iraq." > >By November of that year, as the Iraqi insurgency and US military >repression were claiming a growing number of victims, Friedman was >waxing ever more lyrical about the dirty war of American occupation. >It was, he said, "the most important liberal, revolutionary US >democracy-building project since the Marshall Plan... one of the >noblest things this country has ever attempted abroad." > >By April of 2004, as the US military was unleashing bloody attacks >against both the Sunni city of Fallujah and the Shiite slums of >Baghdad, Friedman had taken to issuing exhortations to the Iraqis. >"Is there a critical mass ready to identify themselves-not as >Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis-but as Iraqis, who are ready to fight for >the chance of self-determination for the Iraqi people as a whole?" > >Self-determination in the Orwellian newspeak adopted by the New York >Times columnist meant siding with the American military to suppress >those fighting to expel the foreign occupiers from their country. > >Criticizing the Bush administration for failing to deploy sufficient >military power to crush this resistance, Friedman at that time >concluded: "I know the right thing to do now is to stay the course, >defeat the bad guys, disarm the militia and try to build a political >framework..." > >As recently as last June, Friedman voiced the hope that the US could >still claim victory in Iraq, provided it used sufficient military >force. He called on the administration to "do it right" and "double >the boots on the ground." > >That the US does not have an additional 145,000 active-duty troops >to send to Iraq was something Friedman didn't even bother to >consider. The unstated implication of "doing it right" is restoring >the draft, conscripting hundreds of thousands of American teenagers >and sending them off to fight and die. If such a prospect doesn't >faze Friedman, it is because he is confident that any revival of the >selective service system would-as in the Vietnam era-include >deferrals and safe havens for all those in the elite financial and >social circles that he inhabits. > >It seems that now, however, the number one cheerleader for the US >conquest of the Persian Gulf has come to the end of his rope. In a >September 27 column published in the Times entitled "Endgame in >Iraq," he concludes that US military strategy is secondary and that >"Iraq, at the end of the day, was always going to be what the Iraqis >decided to make of it." > >How the Iraqis are to decide or make anything for themselves under a >foreign occupation that dictates all essential terms of political >and social life Friedman doesn't bother to explain. Clearly, the >implication is that either the Iraqis knuckle under to US demands, >or they can go to blazes. > >In short, Friedman has concluded that the Iraqis-and specifically >the more than five million members of the country's Sunni >minority-are not worthy of Washington's "noble" efforts to liberate, >civilize and democratize them. > >His latest column is an ultimatum to the Sunnis to vote the right >way-or else-on the draft constitution that Washington is promoting >as yet another "turning point" in extricating itself from its Iraqi >quagmire. > >Having proclaimed the US intervention a war of liberation for a >"multireligious government" based on those "ready to identify >themselves-not as Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis-but as Iraqis," Friedman >now insists that the Sunnis must accept a constitutional scheme that >sanctions Iraq's de facto partition precisely along these >ethno-religious lines. > >The Sunnis are being prodded along this supposedly democratic path >not primarily by Friedman's sermons, but rather by US military >assaults on cities in the majority Sunni provinces of Ninewa and >al-Anbar, as well as raids and arrests carried out against Sunni >representatives in Baghdad. > >Most who know anything about Iraq and the surrounding region are >warning that the constitution and the US rush to impose it through >an October 15 referendum vastly increase the threat of civil war-an >explosion of sectarian violence and ethnic cleansing, leading >ultimately to the country's breakup. > >While Friedman allows that the "Bush team's incompetence" has >undermined Washington's colonialist efforts, he directs his main >fire at the "moral vacuum in the Sunni Arab world" and its >determination to "stifle any prospect for democracy." That the >"democracy" on offer is the effective destruction of Iraq, leaving >the Sunnis trapped in a landlocked statelet without resources, is of >no interest to the Times columnist. > >Who is Friedman to preach morality to anyone? Here is a man who has >made his living inventing alibis and pretexts for the most powerful >imperialist state in the world seizing control of an oppressed and >impoverished nation, killing thousands upon thousands of men, women >and children in the process, all for the purpose of controlling the >region's strategic oil reserves. > >As Iraq sank into a hellish abyss of bloodshed, poverty and the >disintegration of all essential functions of society, Friedman >invented fairy tales about it becoming a beacon of democracy that >would be emulated by peoples throughout the Arab world. As thousands >of young American soldiers came home in coffins or returned maimed >physically and shattered psychologically, he casually called for >sending twice as many. And now he has the gall to accuse others of >living in a "moral vacuum"? > >Behind all of this moralistic fulminating there no doubt lie >definite political and strategic calculations. Some analysts speak >more openly about Iraq's partition and even a protracted civil war >as possible paths to achieving US imperialism's main aim-hegemonic >control over the oil-rich Middle East. > >But there is something more going on here. > >In the period leading up to the war and in the aftermath of the US >invasion, Friedman was known for his exultant colonialist rhetoric, >declaring that the occupation must proceed on the principle of "we >break it; we own it" and proclaiming that Washington had "adopted a >baby called Baghdad." > >Now he is writing something very different: "Maybe cynical Europeans >were right. Maybe this neighborhood is just beyond transformation." >If the Sunni minority fails to support the constitution demanded by >Washington "then we are wasting our time," he declaresin his >September 27 column. > >"We should arm the Shiites and Kurds and leave the Sunnis of Iraq to >reap the wind," Friedman concludes. "We must not throw more good >American lives after good American lives for people who hate others >more than they love their own children." > >Using the slander employed in every colonial war to justify mass >murder against those resisting foreign domination-they don't love >their children, they are indifferent to human life-Friedman abandons >his democratizing pretenses and calls instead for a ethno-religious >bloodbath. > >That this is the perspective of someone who is arguably the most >influential foreign affairs commentator in the US, writing for >America's newspaper of record, is a measure of the profound >demoralization and disorientation within the US ruling establishment >over the course of its imperialist venture in Iraq.
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