9-11 makes Thomas Friedman stupid

In his column in the NY Times today Thomas Friedman tries to make the case that 9-11 has made us stupid, but really makes the case that he and many liberals have become stupid because of our reaction to the attacks.

Friedman is not "truther" stupid, but his motivation is similar. The truthers reject the obvious about the attacks because they do not want to have to deal with the consequences of the truth. They don't want to be at war with anyone so the block the truth of enemy aggression and come up with a conspiracy theory.

Friedman, like John Kerry in 2004 wants to return to the pre war mode, where terrorism and enemy attacks are not the front burner issues that get in the way of the liberal agenda.

...

It is not that I thought we had new enemies that day and now I don’t. Yes, in the wake of 9/11, we need new precautions, new barriers. But we also need our old habits and sense of openness. For me, the candidate of 9/12 is the one who will not only understand who our enemies are, but who we are.

...

This is a call to returning to the strategic defensive. Note the acceptance of new precautions and new barriers. Those are both defensive measures. But the old habits and sense of openness reflect the liberals reaction to intercepting enemy communications and not disclosing those intercepts on the front page of the NY Times. These people want to retreat to the failed lawfare method of being on the strategic defensive and just reacting to the next attack rather than attacking the enemy to prevent the next attack.

The Romans had to resort to that when fighting Hannibal, but that was because they could not defeat his army. We don't have that problem. However, if we fought like liberals we would.

Dismantling Gitmo as he wants is just a stupid PR stunt that makes us more vulnerable. Bringing those prisoners to the US and putting them into the criminal justice system instead of the war crimes system is a recipe for releasing them and turning over vital national security secrets to them in the process. It might make liberals in the US and Europe feel better but it would not make us safer. Anyone who wants to close Gitmo is just not serious about winning the war.

Jules Crittenden gives his thoughts on international tourism after 9-11. It is a great put down to Friedman's column. The Strata-Sphere also nails the problem with Friedman's projections.

...

The Islamo Fascist war against the West and America, while not actually starting on 9-11 but really nearly a decade earlier, is not over. It will not be over until our enemy admits it is over and surrenders his efforts to kill us. Friedman can wring his hands in stupidity all day long, but as long as we are under the threat of attack we are at war. A war declared in the 1990’s by Bin Laden and ignored by a Democrat party and liberal wing that could not be bothered with such nuisances.

...

It is liberal nostalgia for the failed policy of lawfare. They saw its inadequacies on the real 9-12 but as the memory fades they yearn for the return of those 9-10 ways of responding to the war against us by the terrorist. Strata has much more in his response.