For those of us long frustrated and disgusted with the elitist, pro-corporate globalization, pro-war writing of Thomas Friedman, we've received wonderful news today.
The arrogant bastard is retiring.
Don't believe me? His own words, on the flip.
What is most striking is that Friedman is resigning because he was so incredibly, tragically wrong on Iraq. His op-ed is titled "The End of the Experts":
[The situation in Iraq] has made me realize, among other things, one incontestable fact: I have no business holding a pen, at least with intent to write.
I know, you’re thinking I’m going too far. I haven’t always been wrong about everything. I recently made some sense on global warming and what we needed to do about it, for instance.
But to have been so completely and fundamentally wrong about so huge a disaster as what we have done to Iraq — and ourselves — is outrageous enough to prove that people like me have no business posing as wise men, and, more importantly, that The New York Times has no business continuing to provide me with a national platform.
In any case, I have made a decision: as of today, I will no longer write in this or any other newspaper. I will immediately desist from writing any more books about how it’s time for everyone to climb on board the globalization high-speed monorail to the future. I will keep my opinions to myself.
Friedman notes that unlike other "journalists" he was not swayed by the administration's arguments that Hussein was a threat; yet he argued for the invasion anyway:
Back in February of 2003, I wrote in this space: "Saddam does not threaten us today. He can be deterred. Taking him out is a war of choice — but it’s a legitimate choice." In other words, we should invade a sovereign state and replace its government in order to remake the world more to our liking.
Now the simple fact is, an unprovoked attack on a sovereign state is a war crime, even when linked to grand ideas of the future of mankind. In fact, that’s exactly what Hitler did, for exactly the same reasons. The Nuremburg War Crimes Tribunal called it the "the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."
What was I thinking? And more importantly, why didn’t anyone stop me?
It's a pretty amazing admission of being wrong. Of course, what he will do to make up for this colossal error of judgment, and the death and destruction he cheerleaded, remains to be seen.
(pause)
Okay, this didn't really happen.
But damn, it would be nice, right?
Yesterday, in the spirit of great satire, the Yes Men published a fake edition of The New York Times from the future, filled with stories that many of us would love to see in print. Friedman's resignation is one of the editorials. I urge you to check it out, and forward it to everyone you know. It's truly priceless. Even the ads are biting and hilarious.
From their explanation:
This special edition of The New York Times comes from a future in which we are accomplishing what we know today to be possible.
The dozens of volunteer citizens who produced this paper spent the last eight years dreaming of a better world for themselves, their friends, and any descendants they might end up having. Today, that better world, though still very far away, is finally possible — but only if millions of us demand it, and finally force our government to do its job.
Here is the blurb from Democracy Now! - scroll down to the bottom.
UPDATE: Turns out greendem already posted a diary about the Yes Men. Apologies for not doing a better search before posting. I'll leave this up, but I ask that you check out that diary and give greendem some love.
UPDATE II: Holy crap, this made the rec list! Forward the story or the link for the paper to everyone - this is too good to not spread around.