Friedman Still Confused About Iraq

This post refers to Thomas Friedman's column Op-Ed Columnist: Remember Iraq in today's NY Times.

Tom has a strain of the "Blame America First" infection. Today's symptom is the variation known as "Credit America Last". So even though we are pouring blood and treasure into Iraq, Tom is forced to write "To the extent that the surge has worked militarily, it is largely because of what Iraqis have done by themselves for themselves".

This is outrageous. Friedman was screaming for us to invade Iraq, then, after many years of agony there, he can't even credit our troops for doing the near impossible under the worst of circumstances.

We need to get our troops out of Iraq now, not when the likes of Friedman say it is OK. Then, we will all see what the Iraqis can do "by themselves for themselves". No doubt, if the Iraqis fail, Friedman will revert to the original strain: blame America first.