Thomas Friedman is Nuts
Charles Johnson
Thu Oct 9, 2003 at 4:34 pm PDT • Views: 273
Thomas Friedman has now officially slipped right off the rails into full-blown appeasement-minded lunacy, in a freakishly wrong-headed article that urges Israel to deal with Yasser Arafat—and lift all restrictions on his movements—and urges the US to make deals with the mad mullahs of Iran and the chinless dictator of Syria. Absolutely amazing: Long Spoon Diplomacy.
I have enormous sympathy for Israel’s predicament in confronting the madness of suicide bombers. No society has ever faced such a thing. But every military strategy Ariel Sharon has tried has failed. Maybe the only way Israel can deal with this phenomenon is by trying anew to do business with Mr. Arafat — indirectly, through his new prime minister, Ahmed Qurei.Just two things wrong here, Tom.
First, Ahmed Qurei is resigning.
Second, the military strategies are not failing—they’re succeeding.
The former Mideast envoy Dennis Ross has a useful suggestion: Israel should try to strike a deal with Mr. Qurei. Offer to give him what he needs: “a two-way ticket” for Mr. Arafat (so he can come and go without fear of deportation).In return, Mr. Arafat would have to give Mr. Qurei “carte blanche,” Mr. Ross says, to crack down on Islamic terrorists in exchange for Israel’s easing up on Palestinians. I know there are no simple solutions or sure things here, but to not explore every alternative, again and again, is to invite total despair. Moreover, the best way to create an alternative to Mr. Arafat is to strengthen Mr. Qurei.Once again, people like Friedman and Ross are lost in an idealized fantasy about Qurei “cracking down on Islamic terrorists,” completely ignoring the simple fact that Qurei has stated unequivocally he has no intention of ever doing that—just like they ignored similar statements from Arafat’s previous puppet Abu Mazen.
And it gets even more ludicrous from there. This is definitely one of Friedman’s worst columns ever, on a par with his ridiculous endorsement of Prince Abdullah’s phony Mideast peace plan.
Also see:
Tim Blair Goes Cherry-Picking
Frank says: