By: E&P Staff New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman, who supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq more than three years ago, and has repeatedly called for staying the course there since, on Friday for the first time suggests setting a deadline for U.S. withdrawal.
Friedman observes that "it is time for America to starting talking 'deadlines.' Too many Iraqi factions think they can just keep wrestling each other for small advantage while the country burns, but the U.S. Army provides a floor of security that prevents total chaos. The Iraqi parties need to know that we are not going to be played this way forever. Only an Iraq that can come together and make a fist can crush this militia culture."
Earlier in the column, Friedman notes: "President Bush has told us that the question of whether to withdraw from Iraq is one that his successor will have to deal with ? not him. I don't think so. Mr. Bush is not going to have that luxury of passing Iraq along."
His logic? Vice President Cheney is still mocked for his statement a year ago that the insurgency in Iraq was in its "last throes," but Friedman believes this is essentially true today. But he adds, "Unfortunately, it's being replaced by anarchy in many neighborhoods ? not democracy. And I don't believe the American people will put up with two and half more years of babysitting anarchy instead of midwifing democracy.
"The report that U.S. marines were involved in a massacre of Iraqis in Haditha ? which the Pentagon needs to clarify fast ? is a tragic reminder that a foreign occupation by U.S. forces can't go on for years." (Of course, it has already gone on "for years.")
Friedman then details the Bush team's missteps, the rise of sectarian slaughter and the growing "instability" despite free elections and Sunni participation in the new government, before concluding: "We can't keep asking Americans to sacrifice their children for people who hate each other more than they love their own children."
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