That Time Tom Friedman Said the Iraq War Was All About Telling Muslims "To Suck. On. This."

You know what happened 11 years ago, almost to the day (May 29, 2003)? Tom Friedman appeared on a very special episode of The Charlie Rose Show taped in Silicon Valley and delivered the most batshit-stupid-crazy peroration EVER on why America was right to invade Iraq. Short verson: BECAUSE 9/11.

Slightly longer version:

What they [Islamic extremists] needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house—from Basra to Baghdad—and basically saying: Which part of this sentence don't you understand?: You don't think we care about our open society? You think this [terrorism] fantasy [you have]—we're just gonna let it grow? Well, suck. on. this. That, Charlie, was what this war was about. We coulda hit Saudi Arabia….We coulda hit Pakistan. We hit Iraq because we could.

How do people say this kind of stuff not just in public but ON PBS and still have jobs?

Hat tip: Glenn Greenwald and Atrios.

Must-read: Matt Welch on "The Simpletons: David Brooks, Thomas L. Friedman, and the banal authoritarianism of do-something punditry."

#IraqWar #ForeignPolicy #Media #WaronTerror