Like all good satire, the story made me both laugh and cry, because it reflected something so true — how much, since 9/11, we’ve become “The United States of Fighting Terrorism.” Times columnists are not allowed to endorse candidates, but there’s no rule against saying who will not get my vote: I will not vote for any candidate running on 9/11. We don’t need another president of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12. I will only vote for the 9/12 candidate.
What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.
Jules Crittenden takes him to the woodshed for that remark.
Sure has made some people stupid, no question. Friedman is writing against Giuliani as the “9/11″ candidate, saying we need a 9/12 candidate. Which, as an attempt to be clever, is pretty stupid, too. 9/12, you’ll recall, was the day after 9/11. Pretty much the day its been ever since. I don’t know what you were thinking about that day. I actually was thinking about international tourism, just like Friedman wants us to. But I was working out a travel itinerary for Afghanistan.* Friedman wants to get everyone thinking about travel to the United States. A lot of people were thinking about that on 9/12, too. Jose Padilla, Richard Reid, to name a couple.
A note to Thomas Friedman:
has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.
It did not knock America off balance Thomas, it woke us up to the reality that we could be attacked on our own soil.
In complete intellectual dishonesty Mr. Friedman deliberately ignores that we have not had a successful attack on our soil since then, but not from lack of trying.
Remember Fort Dix Thomas?
May 2007:
Six Islamic radicals were arrested yesterday for planning to “conduct an armed assault on the army base (Ft. Dix, NJ) and to kill as many soldiers as possible.”
Does Goose Creek, SC. ring a bell Thomas?
August 2007:
Two men are being detained in Goose Creek, S.C. for being in possession of explosive devices. Goose Creek, S.C., according to U.S. Today is the home of the Naval Weapons Station which houses a military brig where enemy combatants have been held.
Update, September 2007:
In a 12-minute video posted on YouTube, an Egyptian man wearing a white shirt, khaki pants and rubber gloves explains in Arabic how to turn a toy boat into a bomb.His name is Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, and last month he was arrested in Goose Creek after authorities found four PVC pipes containing a mixture of potassium nitrate, kitty litter and sugar in his car’s trunk.
Mohamed told FBI agents he made the video to teach “those persons in Arabic countries to defend themselves against the infidels invading their countries,” according to federal court documents released late Tuesday.
Specifically, he told the FBI “the technology which he demonstrated in the tape was to be used against those who fought for the United States.”
JFK, the London Airports with American based Airlines meant to cause more massive amounts of deaths than 9/11.
Germany, Denmark.....any of this ringing a bell Thomas?
Before 9/11, America was complacent, arrogant even, watching terrorism run rampant abroad and attacks against our interests as well as our military that were abroad.
We had warnings but too many of us were like Thomas Friedman and did not wake up, just hit the snooze button, turned over and went back to sleep.
February 26, 1993: World Trade Center in New York, USA, badly damaged by a massive bomb planted by Islamic terrorists. The car bomb was planted in an underground garage and left six people dead and more than one thousand people injured.
November 13, 1995: Seven foreigners, including a number of US servicemen, are killed in bomb attack on National Guard training centre at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
June 25, 1996: Islamic radical terrorists opposed to the western military presence in the Gulf region, explode a truck bomb next to a USAF housing area at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 American servicemen and 385 injured.
August 7, 1998: US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar-es-Salem, Tanzania, heavily damaged by massive bomb attacks. In the Nairobi attack 247 people were killed, including 12 Americans, and 4,000 injured. Ten people were killed and 74 injured in Tanzania incident. US intelligence blames Islamic groups linked to Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden.
October 12, 2000: USS Cole attacked by suicide bombers and 17 sailors killed and 13 injured. Attack blamed on Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network.
December 30, 2000: Bomb explodes outside US embassy in Manilla, Phillipines.
September 11, 2001:Two hijacked airliners flown into World Trade Centre in New York,
USA, resulting in the deaths of some 3,000 people. Another hijacked airliner strikes the Pentagon in Washington, DC, killing 189 people and injuring 86. Another 44 people die when a hijacked airliner crashes in Pennsylvania after the passengers clash with their hijackers. Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda networked blamed for the attack.
If it were up to people like Thomas Friedman, we would have all shrugged and went about our business....thank heavens it wasn't up to the very stupid Thomas Friedman.
America did not get stupid Thomas, you did.
We woke up, we realized that sitting back and continuing to allow ourselves to be attacked without responding, without doing everything in our power to prevent those attacks, and without making states that sponsor terror understand they will suffer for sponsoring terror, would be the truly "stupid" thing.
So, Thomas, I do not give a damn who you would not vote for.
As we showed yesterday, the "majority" of Americans do not agree with you on this one.
(Click image to go to original page where you can click and enlarge all the results)
But the IBD/TIPP Poll taken last week found Americans solidly behind such measures as warrantless wiretaps, detention of terrorist suspects in foreign prisons and keeping open the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
THE QUESTION: Do you support or oppose the following actions by the U.S. government intended to protect the nation?
Breakdown of answers:
Wiretapping terrorist suspects without a court warrant:
Support..........61%
Oppose...........36%
Not sure/refused 3%
Increased surveillance:
Support..........69%
Oppose...........26%
Not sure/refused 5%
Detention of non-U.S. terrorist suspects in foreign jails:
Support..........59%
Oppose...........32%
Not sure/refused 9%
The U.S. Patriot Act, which expands the authority of agencies to pursue information that may be used to foil terrorist plots:
Support..........67%
Oppose...........30%
Not sure/refused 4%
Disallowing some people from flying on commercial airplanes because they may represent potential security threats:
Support..........68%
Oppose...........27%
Not sure/refused 5%
Keeping suspected terrorists or enemy combatants at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp:
Support..........63%
Oppose...........29%
Not sure/refused 9%
Americans by and large, got smart on 9/12 Thomas, one has to wonder where you were when common sense and brains were handed out.
Thomas Friedman, with his stupid opinion about America being stupid becomes the third recipient of Wake up America's RUBBER CHICKEN AWARD.
The only requirement for winning this award is to have made the stupidest or most asinine comments or publication in the previous week.
You have earned it Thomas Friedman, congratulations.
(Additional thought- If you want to offer Tommie boy a rubber chicken of your own or send him the graphic or this piece, you can.
For information on Op-Ed submissions, call (212) 556-1831 or send article to oped@nytimes.com. To write to the editorial page editor, send to editorial@nytimes.com.)
Others discussing this, via memeorandum:
Strata-Sphere, Wizbang, Conservative Belle, Stop the ACLU, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Don Surber.
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