The other Tom's Sunday column

9/11 Is Over, By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN, New York TimesSeptember 30, 2007

The coming realignment indeed.

This is natural and right: we recognize not only our fears but our hopes, not only our vulnerabilities but our strengths, not only our old enemies but our new allies.

We simple rebalance, the System Perturbation completed.

We have yet to be truly led by those who truly see the world for what it is.

(Thanks: Dan Hare)

Comments

[Bruce Sterling]

9/11 has made us stupid about Islamic Terror like the Cold War made us stupid about the Red Terror. Yet despite all the stupidity and terror the Soviet Union is no more; and Islamic Terror-the desperate cry of a dying world view-will end up buried like communism.

[SVC Alumnus]

I totally agree with your thoughts, not Thomas'.

First, We do need Gitmo or something similar for captured al Qaeda. Maybe a POW camp or something like that in say Kansas?

Second, I agree that President G.W. Bush has been educated and promoted beyond his intelligence. We need more wholesome/complete/strategic leadership from The White House, but also leadership that wavers not a moment on the terrorists' war on us.

I also want to politely remind all that you said, "the right sort of change needed for our military is most likely achieved under a moderate Republican." As a donor to the Giuliani campaign, I sincerely thank you for your support :-).

[J Canepa]

Friedman doesn’t get it right. His analysis and conclusion deal only with the outer layer of a complex onion. 9 11 has to be looked as one event within a policy. This policy is by nature opaque prepared in secret and executed indirectly. Look for the policy and one comes up with a wilderness of mirrors.

Few then can see the overall policy clearly, although Thomas Barnett and others are close. The policy is disguised, as “Globalization” Globalization is not bad in itself. The idea of universal free trade, while necessitating a few bumps, is sound. It’s not Globalization that is the problem. The problem is the method used to implement Globalization. The method is at the heart of the policy.The policy is never stated and is thus difficult to detect. Personally, I never even remotely guessed what the policy is. Until yesterday! The New York Times, which published Friedman’s essay, also featured a book review of Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/books/review/Stiglitz-t.html?_r=1&ref=books&oref=sloginKlein appears to have it right. Events such as Chile, Central American intervention, the demise of New Orleans. the collapse of the USSR and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were examples of the method, “the shock doctrine”. People and property are reduced to chaos and the follow up is a version of free market capitalism. It’s Deadwood out there. Many men women and children die, and Al and Hearst pick up the pieces.The problem is not the free market capitalism but if getting there intentionally takes the life on one two year old, I say the method is misguided.

[Mike Anglin]

Tom,

Need to see the movie "The Kingdom". I won't give anything away, but the ending is pretty relevant to this issue.