Firedoglake diary: "Thomas Friedman is a deeply ridiculous man."

[chill_wind]

Thomas Friedman: Torture and Invading Iraq Have Prevented Another 9/11
By: Blue Texan Wednesday April 29, 2009 10:30 am

"Suck on This/Six Months" Friedman explains why torturing Arabs is kind of a bummer, but probably necessary.

Al Qaeda was undeterred by normal means. Al Qaeda’s weapon of choice was suicide. Al Qaeda operatives were ready to kill themselves — as they did on 9/11, and before that against U.S. targets in Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Tanzania and Yemen — long before we could ever threaten to kill them. We could deter the Russians because they loved their children more than they hated us; they did not want to die. The Al Qaeda operatives hated us more than they loved their own children. They glorified martyrdom and left families behind.

In other words, the laws that have defined us as a nation for centuries can be disregarded if an enemy really, really hates us. For instance, during WWII, we followed the Geneva Conventions when we captured Germans but we tortured the Japanese because they hated us more than their children.

Then Tom dusts off the flypaper theory.

I believe that the most important reason there has not been another 9/11, besides the improved security and intelligence, is that Al Qaeda is primarily focused on defeating America in the heart of the Arab-Muslim world — particularly in Iraq.

(see rest of diary: http://firedoglake.com/ )

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. He's been pretty much skewered since the whole perpetual six month time frame was exposed.nt