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| Hokey Smokes Bullwinkle!: Even Tom Friedman Gets it! |
| 2003-01-22 |
| Thinking About Iraq (I) By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN No member of the VRWC, he. As the decision on Iraq approaches,6 days and counting by the denbeste clock I, like so many Americans, have had to ask myself: What do you really think? Today I explain why I think liberals under-appreciate the value of removing Saddam Hussein. And on Sunday I will explain why conservatives under-appreciate the risks of doing so — and how we should balance the two. What liberals fail to recognize is that regime change in Iraq is not some distraction from the war on Al Qaeda. That is a bogus argument. And simply because oil is also at stake in Iraq doesn't make it illegitimate either. Some things are right to do, even if Big Oil benefits.Note to class: we have more oil off the coast of California than there is in Iraq. Although many have suggested it, no one is yet bombing California for oil. Although President Bush has cast the war in Iraq as being about disarmament — and that is legitimate — disarmament is not the most important prize there. Regime change is the prize. Regime transformation in Iraq could make a valuable contribution to the war on terrorism, whether Saddam is ousted or enticed into exile. This is kinda like the old joke about 1000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea constituting a good start. Why? Because what really threatens open, Western, liberal societies today is not Saddam and his weapons per se. He is a twisted dictator who is deterrable through conventional means. Because Saddam loves life more than he hates us. What threatens Western societies today are not the deterrables, like Saddam, but the undeterrables — the boys who did 9/11, who hate us more than they love life. It's these human missiles of mass destruction that could really destroy our open society. So then the question is: What is the cement mixer that is churning out these undeterrables — these angry, humiliated and often unemployed Muslim youth? That cement mixer is a collection of faltering Arab states, which, as the U.N.'s Arab Human Development Report noted, have fallen so far behind the world their combined G.D.P. does not equal that of Spain. And the reason they have fallen behind can be traced to their lack of three things: freedom, modern education and women's empowerment. Tom fails to mention that each and every one of them is also a socialist state, once again begging the question "when has socialism ever helped anyone?" If we don't help transform these Arab states — which are also experiencing population explosions — to create better governance, to build more open and productive economies, to empower their women and to develop responsible media that won't blame all their ills on others, we will never begin to see the political, educational and religious reformations they need to shrink their output of undeterrables. We have partners. Trust me, there is a part of every young Arab today that recoils at the idea of a U.S. invasion of Iraq, because of its colonial overtones. But there is a part of many young Arabs today that prays the U.S. will not only oust Saddam but all other Arab leaders as well. It is not unreasonable to believe that if the U.S. removed Saddam and helped Iraqis build not an overnight democracy but a more accountable, progressive and democratizing regime, it would have a positive, transforming effect on the entire Arab world — a region desperately in need of a progressive model that works. And truth be told, it's the real reason why so many are against our taking action there, it just might work. And liberals need to take heed. Just by mobilizing for war against Iraq, the U.S. has sent this region a powerful message: We will not leave you alone anymore to play with matches, because the last time you did, we got burned. Just the threat of a U.S. attack has already prompted Hezbollah to be on its best behavior in Lebanon (for fear of being next). And it has spurred Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah to introduce a proposal to his fellow Arab leaders for an "Arab Charter" of political and economic reform. Let me sum up my argument with two of my favorite sayings. The first is by Harvard's president, Lawrence Summers, who says: "In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car." It is true of countries as well. Until the Arab peoples are given a real ownership stake in their countries — a real voice in how they are run — they will never wash them, never improve them as they should. The second is an American Indian saying — "If we don't turn around now, we just may get where we're going." The Arab world has been digging itself into a hole for a long time. If our generation simply helps it stop digging, possibly our grandchildren and its own will reap the benefits. But if we don't help the Arabs turn around now, they just may get where they're going — a dead end where they will produce more and more undeterrables. This is something liberals should care about — because liberating the captive peoples of the Mideast is a virtue in itself and because in today's globalized world, if you don't visit a bad neighborhood, it will visit you. Once upon a time, liberals were against tyranny and for liberty. Todays liberals see it the other way around. |
| Posted by:Frank Martin |
| #7 Friedman's typically 2/3rds conventional wisdom and 1/3 anti-idiotarian. The last third snuck out. |
| Posted by: Mark Byron 2003-01-22 21:08:55 |
| #6 I did it first. In 1980 I rented a car to go camping in the New Mexico desert. After a week it was so filthy, I washed it at a DIY place so I wouldn't get dirty every time I brushed against it. Come to think of it, that could make a good analogy for US relationships with so many Muslim countries -- the people have no ownership stake, the countries have become filthy, and the dirt is rubbing off on US! |
| Posted by: Tresho 2003-01-22 19:23:58 |
| #5 A year ago Friedman was still talking solely to liberal/transnational progressive elites here at home and abroad. Then he started talking to real people who voiced the frustration of living under an oppressive regime like that in Egypt. Then he started talking to common folks and finally grasped that the Syrian, Iranian, and Iraqi leaderships are corrupt and despised. Took some time, but he’s learning. |
| Posted by: Mike Cakora 2003-01-22 18:30:53 |
| #4 "In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car." Don't mean to get off topic, but I did. 5 years ago, Irvine California. Parked a red rental under a tree at night on the street. Buzzards crapped all over it. It was awful! |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-01-22 16:45:08 |
| #3 Calif vs. Iraq oil: The amount of easily recoverable oil off the Calif coast is an order of magnitude less than the easily recoverable oil in Iraq. A current comparison of the ultimately recoverable oil in CA vs. Iraq is not really doable because different exploration patterns were used for these two reservoirs. Also, natural gas reserves off the CA coast are easily brought to consuption markets but this is not the case in Iraq which has far more natural gas than can be sold (unless new pipelines are constructed) |
| Posted by: mhw 2003-01-22 13:21:24 |
| #2 Well, one man's tyrant is another man's...ah, hell. My forehead's looking funny these days from constantly hitting it on my keyboard. |
| Posted by: seafarious 2003-01-22 12:50:57 |
| #1 joe lieberman and John edwards still see it he right way, We'll see where everyone else lines up after the 27th. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-01-22 14:49:54 |