With these people, Iraq just happened. Nothing could be done, and really nothing can be done, apart from remaining stoic.
Other than that, the War on Terror is entirely bogus.
Anyway, enjoy that long wait at the airport.
I wouldn't go so far as to call him a "jackass" or "stupid motherfucker", but this sort of article is typical of Zakaria. His M.O. works like this: set up an erroneous "conventional wisdom" (usually with the help of MSM employers Newsweek and CNN, the CW's chief purveyors); further attribute it to nebulous "competent experts" (who, if named, turn out to be anything but); then rush in to the "rescue" with facts, stats, and astute observations; the last step, of course, is "profit!" (the man has his lucrative racket down pat, so you can't accuse Zakaria of being an Underpants Gnome)
He's a better and more insightful writer than his comrade, Captain Obvious, but in the end he's the same sort of intellectual opportunist. What he's doing here (and in other articles over the past year) is joining the other centrist pundits in disassociating himself from the Bush disaster that he helped to enable, while studiously avoiding any solutions that might upset the status quo.
Not upsetting the American establishment also the reason that he undermines his own generally reality-based view of foreigh affairs by avoiding or brushing aside uncomfortable issues such as the legacy of Western colonialism, the fallacy of "free" global markets, the practice of disaster capitalism, the long-term and organic nature of cultural change, and the environmental/energy reckoning that we're all about to face. That creates a huge and dangerous blind spot in an otherwise solid intellectual viewpoint.
This highly selective blend of empirical realism and neoliberal optimism is a deliberate downgrading of Zakaria's systematic/global thinking style in the service of maintaining his role and income as a "serious, thoughtful MSM pundit" (as opposed to the mass of unserious ones, who are barely articulate and depend on "making shit up"). By engaging in sins of omission rather than comission, he thus manages to stay in the good graces of the Boomer BS Machine.
Given Zakaria's ability to describe international changes in an accessible and engaging manner, that's a real waste. We need public intellectuals and even politicians who are also willing to take the risk of telling the hard truths. Until Zakaria does that, it will be hard to consider him the realist he claims to be.
So I'm guessing you're not happy to hear that he's getting his own hour on CNN on Sundays.
bush says we're fighting terrorists in Iraq all the time. As I recall, the Iraq Study Group report said there was something like 100 attacks on US troops every day.
If those attacks are being committed by 'terrorists', as the President asserts, doesn't that mean there has been, thousands of terrorist attacks in Iraq alone since we invaded?
Iraq is not significant... just pull it out of the data set.
he looks like skeletor (yes- i am a wonderwoman of intellectual discourse!)
anyway, this is more contorting data like a Chinese circus performer-- to make up the stats to fit an ill informed hypothesis. Bad behavioral and social science at it's best.
Gee, if you don't count the Mets' 26 losses, they're 24-0. Hey, they're undefeated!!! WOOHOO!!!
Wait, you say it doesn't work that way in real life?
but does he count Florida and Michigan?
again, Florida and Michigan and Iraq are insignificant... much like Fareed
"Spin." I am SO beginning to hate that word.
War is terrorism with a bigger budget.
It's all over for Fareed if he takes a blow to the head: "Don't mention the war. I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it alright."
The way he tortures data would make the proprietors of Gitmo blanch.
He's not stupid, unlike the Diapermen of the right, but stupid motherfucker does have a rhythm to it.
I can't believe they're giving him his own show. Can't imagine anyone watching it anyway. But doesn't this prove that the mainstream corporate media is no longer salvageable?
Off-topic, but this CNN video is a must-watch. It's about US soldiers who are getting electrocuted to death because US contractor to the Pentagon Kellog, Brown, & Root (KBR) is not properly maintaining US bases in Iraq.
I hate this war and I hate the things US troops are inflicting on the Iraqi people, but that doesn't stop stories such as this one from making me very pissed off. What kind of fucking country have we become, for pity's fucking sake????
I've never paid much attention to this guy. His rep is seriously overrated. Just another self proclaimed know it all who really doesn't know shit.
Yeah, Fareed is a Stupid Motherfucker, but it is hardly worth wasting the abuse on him, when you have a Really Stupid Motherfucker like McCain, or the Grand Shitkickin Stupid Mother George Fuckin W Bush to kick around.
End obligatory abusive rant.
Anyway, picking nits about whether killing in Iraq is or is not terrorism is way off in the weeds. Honest, moral people have pointed out for years that the practices of war are no different than the practices of terrorism, except perhaps in scale, and then the comparison is unfavorable to the war parties. So trying to make a meaningful distinction out of an empty rhetorical category ranks pretty high on the universe's list of fool's errands.
I am a equal opportunity nitpicker... i got time for all these stupid motherfuckers
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