is why I'm proud of the students from my alma mater who threw a pie in his face. Sure, they did it because he was doing an Earth Day keynote address on campus and they didn't like his environmental policies, but Friedman deserves public humiliation at least for the "Friedman Unit" brand of serialized dishonesty, and for this latest round of rah-rah warmongering. Suck on it, Friedman.

Another media elite a-hole who's never spent a day in uniform telling the rest of us where to send our kids to die. Fuck him and fuck the rest of the neocon chickenhawk cocksuckers. They should all be out of jobs for getting Iraq so unbelievably fucking WRONG. Also, he owes us anti-war activists a BIG apology, since WE got the whole thing RIGHT in the first place. Friedman is a total incompetent.

Glenn, your selective quoting of today's column makes me wonder about your selective quoting of other material not as easily checked.

Friedman specifically said:

"We’re not going to war with Iran, nor should we. But it is sad to see America and its Arab friends so weak they can’t prevent one of the last corners of decency, pluralism and openness in the Arab world from being snuffed out by Iran and Syria."

So, in your summary of his commentary on the causes of 9/11, what's in the ellipsis? I can't find the text online.

Also, I guess you can say "any country which doesn't directly militarily threaten us isn't a concern." That's a cogent view of the proper role of US foreign policy, but also one that would have said, in the absence of Pearl Harbor, don't get involved in World War II.

Glenn, Friedman's a buffoon, not worth your time and effort.

It can't be done by one man alone. The president has to be forcefully grabbing his crotch with one hand while giving the finger with his other when he intones: "Suck.On.This."

So naturally pounding the baseball bat into his palm falls to the vice president, who doesn't say a word, just locks on the evildoers with his unwavering stank-eye.

Meanwhile the Secretary of State is flashing hands signs and yelling, "That's right. World.War.Three. Motherfuckers."

The rest of the cabinet is wielding two by fours and nunchucks and yelling "bring it, bitch".

After all we have to show them we're a little bit more crazy than they are.

Has Friedman done the crucial research step of taking a cab from an airport in a 3rd world country in order to come up with the necessary pithy anecdote to allow his inane pseudo-arguments to hide within banal metaphor?

.... a "2 X 4" ....

Or.

Dropping bombs with meat cleavers on the oppressed and poor? Tom F. reminds me of one who dresses up in those Civil War era costumes. Tom F. has the garb and gabs. Tom F. reads Glenn and rushes to plug into his ear a AT&T cell phone.

Or.

Tom F. gets so annoyed at UT readers he stews.

Then he sends a blackberry complaint to Glenn.

But Persia did. And the Arabs call it the Arabian Gulf. I'm pretty sure that was snark but there are some in Iran who do dream of the rebirth of empire but so far they have been relying on the low key, soft power methods they have learned well from their former imperial sponsors, Britain, France, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Iran has been the victim of coups (the CIA), invasions (Iraq, proxy of US) and terrorist bombings (alleged U.S. and British).

It's an establishment in perpetual search of an Enemy and the next war. And finding it (or creating it) is the one thing they do well.

Iran arrests 15 over mosque bomb blast

>

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran has arrested a total of 15 people over a deadly mosque bombing in April in the southern city of Shiraz, the intelligence minister said on Wednesday.

Iran has accused the United States and Britain of training and financing people behind the April 12 bombing which killed 13 people and injured more than 200.

"So far 15 people have been arrested and all the ones involved in this incident are our country's nationals," Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie told the Fars news agency.

"The agents of this incident intended to bomb a Russian consulate in Iran," he added.

Ejeie ruled out any links between Shiraz bombers and Iran's main armed opposition, the People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran, Fars said.

Iran has blamed US and British agents based in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan for launching deadly attacks in recent years in border provinces with significant ethnic minority populations.

But the strike in Shiraz was the first in decades in Iran's Persian heartland. The normally placid city is not in a border zone, nor is it home to any significant ethnic or religious minority population.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080514/world/iran_unrest

What a bizarre interpretation. You also demonstration the bigotry of the Left as Lebanon is slowly but surely dismantled by Iran's allies. Iran's fingerprints are all over the problems in Iraq and Gaza. It is quite clear that they are not going to stop out of the goodness of their hearts or because the American Left wants to sing kumbaya with them.

Fridman suggested no war with Iran except the one Iran is already engage in against Israel and the Sunni Arabs. The next American president is going to have to recognize the obvious and figure out how they are going to moblize the Sunni Arab World and Israel to offer the Arab Middle East something more attractive than either Iran or the Arab incompetance and arrogance.

Fortunately both Obama and Clinton live in the real world not the fantasy one of too many of their supporters.

Cold war? We will probably have manufactured an excuse and already be at war with Iran within the next Friedman Unit, so he's on about nothing.

Did he actually see Team America? If so, I'm guessing the satire went over his head.