Tom Friedman's Flexible Deadlines

Iraq's 'decisive' six months have lasted two and a half years

5/16/06

New York Times foreign affairs columnist Tom Friedman is considered by many of his media colleagues to be one of the wisest observers of international affairs. "You have a global brain, my friend," MSNBC host Chris Matthews once told Friedman (4/21/05). "You're amazing. You amaze me every time you write a book."

Such praise is not uncommon. Friedman's appeal seems to rest on his ability to discuss complex issues in the simplest possible terms. On a recent episode of MSNBC's Hardball (5/11/06), for example, Friedman boiled down the intricacies of the Iraq situation into a make-or-break deadline: "Well, I think that we're going to find out, Chris, in the next year to six months—probably sooner—whether a decent outcome is possible there, and I think we're going to have to just let this play out."

That confident prediction would seem a lot more insightful, however, if Friedman hadn't been making essentially the same forecast almost since the beginning of the Iraq War. A review of Friedman's punditry reveals a long series of similar do-or-die dates that never seem to get any closer.

"The next six months in Iraq—which will determine the prospects for democracy-building there—are the most important six months in U.S. foreign policy in a long, long time."
(New York Times, 11/30/03)
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http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2884

I don't know for sure whether or no the 4 paragraph "Fair Usage" limit applies to outfits like FAIR, so read the rest yourself. It would be comical if it weren't for all that death and destruction that lies behind such pompous bafflegab.

pnorman

full of knowledge. I've been wrong lots of times, and that is one of them. Friedman never got it and doesn't get it. Now I know that.

24 HOURS and...

...." a long series of similar do-or-die dates that never seem to get any closer."....

I jest!

Or perhaps "Six months of Firsts" (first day of the month)... (15yrs 2.5mos)

He wants to sell books..that is all..

Just try to read "The Earth is Flat". It would have worked 20 years ago, but he's got a total bubble view of things.

NEF totally debunked his whole theory here http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/news_growthisntworking.aspx

know it all but he has some good points on how to fix the problems. i'm refering to the world is flat. i agree with some that its a bubble view but it puts america in perspective to whats coming.