Mumbling
Incoherently in Mumbai, it’s Thomas Friedman, with the interesting news that no Indian Muslim cemetery will take the Mumbai terrorist bodies, and the clueless suggestion that what happens in India can influence the rest of the Muslim world.
Notes as an aside that Indian Muslims live in a majority Hindu state, which resembles no Muslim state in the slightest, including for the most part its highly laudable democracy and law and order. “Vulnerable minority” presumeably is a reference to Indian Muslims’ cause to be concerned about a backlash from violent radicalized Hindu elements. It’s meant to be a message of hope, which is why, I guess, Friedman actually closes with the phrase “it takes a village.” It’s all a bit confused and beside the point, which is that Friedman is apparently fully back on the Iraq war bandwagon:
And it is why, as outrageously expensive and as uncertain the outcome, trying to build decent, pluralistic societies in places like Iraq is not as crazy as it seems. It takes a village, and without Arab-Muslim societies where the villagers feel ownership over their lives and empowered to take on their own extremists — militarily and ideologically — this trend will not go away.
Not really necessary to drape that in Mumbai, an entirely unrelated situation. Iraqi Muslims figured it out for themselves, with help from the United States under George Bush, back when Friedman was running with the abandonment crowd. Anyway, it is probably helpful of Friedman, if indirectly, to encourage his fans to think positively about the idea that our nation’s terrible toll of blood and money in foreign lands might be serving lofty goals and could further practical outcomes.
Small Wars journal, meanwhile, with a different Mumbai take, offers a scholarly look at modern urban “sieges” and responses.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:43 am Comments (1) on Thursday, February 19, 2009
One Response to “Mumbling”
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February 19th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Back when I listened to Imus (does anyone any longer?) Friedman was a frequent guest. He always seemed to have a rare combination of arrogance and cluelessness that made him particularly annoying. One would think that he would get tired of being incessantly wrong, but one would be incorrect.