Standing By Your Sex-Hobbyist -Man; Because It's Your Fault Too?

HEY TOM FRIEDMAN -
HAND, FOREHEAD, STAPLE!

After three years, Tom Friedman finally answered the Clue Phone about the Bush Middle East policy. Or lack thereof..

Friedman's making me ill just looking at him... BLECH. And his words... oy. Why do I still read him? Well, I don't regularly but ocassionally,like a horrible accident, something catches my eye and I can't look away. Now tell me, did someone slip him the red pill?:

"Can anyone look at what is happening � Palestinians, gripped by a collective madness, committing suicide, and Israelis, under a leadership completely adrift, building more settlements so fanatical Jews can live in the heart of Palestinian-populated areas � and not conclude the following: That these two nations are locked in an utterly self-destructive vicious cycle that threatens Israel's long-term viability, poisons America's image in the Middle East, undermines any hope for a Palestinian state and weakens pro-American Arab moderates. No, you can't draw any other conclusion. Yet the Bush team, backed up by certain conservative Jewish and Christian activist groups, believes that the correct policy is to do nothing. Well, that is my definition of insane.

"Israel must get out of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as soon as possible and evacuate most of the settlements. I have long advocated this, but it is now an urgent necessity. Otherwise, the Jewish state is in peril. Ideally, this withdrawal should be negotiated along the Clinton plan. But if necessary, it should be done unilaterally. This can't happen too soon, and the U.S. should be forcing it.

"Yes, that was a favorable word about the Clinton Middle East policy you just read there.

"The Bush team rightly speaks of bringing justice to Iraq. It rightly denounces Palestinian suicide madness. But it says nothing about the injustice of the Israeli land grab in the West Bank. The Bush team destroyed the Iraqi regime in three weeks and has not persuaded Israel to give up one settlement in three years. To think America can practice that sort of hypocrisy and win the war of ideas in the Arab-Muslim world is a truly dangerous fantasy."

Tom, prepare for re-entry to the real world. Let's just hope that things don't blow up there between now and... well, NOW.

Friedman even beseachs Muslims to say something. Um... that'll happen... sure sure.

Condi apparently has time to deal with it. Or King Abdullah, according to Tom!