From Editor and Publisher
By E&P Staff

For many months now, Thomas Friedman, the New York Times columnist and author, has been ridiculed by liberal bloggers for his continual suggestions, over the past three years, that things would turn around in Iraq… in another six months. Some created what they called the “FU” or Friedman Unit to represent any six-month period. One year, for example, would be “two FUs.”

Now Friedman, in a Friday column, has declared that it is time to set a firm date for withdrawal from Iraq.

He does this (behind the pay TimesSelect wall) after stating that while the Iraq Study Group proposals are fine, “they will only have a chance of being effective if we go one notch further and set a fixed date — now — for America to leave Iraq.

“The only hope of moving the factions inside Iraq, not to mention Syria and Iran, toward reconciliation is if we have leverage over them, which we now lack….Yes, yes, I know, the conventional wisdom is that if the U.S. sets a date to leave Iraq the whole Middle East will explode in a Shiite-Sunni war. Maybe, but maybe not.

“Let’s play this out. What happens if we set a date to leave? The war in Iraq will get worse, but for how long? Right now our troops are providing a floor under the civil war that allows some parties to behave outrageously or make impossible demands — because they know that we won’t let things spin totally out of control. Would they behave more cautiously if they knew they had to pay retail for their madness? I’d like to find out.

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