Friedman has now posted a contribution to that Slate forum...
[begin Friedman quote]
The real reason for this war—which was never stated—was to burst what I would call the 'terrorism bubble,' which had built up during the 1990s.
<snip>
This bubble had to be burst, and the only way to do it was to go right into the heart of the Arab world and smash something—to let everyone know that we, too, are ready to fight and die to preserve our open society. Yes, I know, it's not very diplomatic—it's not in the rule book—but everyone in the neighborhood got the message: Henceforth, you will be held accountable. Why Iraq, not Saudi Arabia or Pakistan? Because we could—period.
[end Friedman quote]
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Voila!
Interestingly, this *we did it because we could* line of argument was first employed, in my hearing, by none other than Howard Stern.
Early and often Stern insisted there was no logical link between the events of 11 Sept. '01 and Hussein but yelled that it didn't matter since we had to scare *the terrorists* (tm) into fearing the Death Star's inpregnable might.
If it took deploying so-called tactical nuclear weapons in the hinterlands of Afghanistan or even in heavily populated Iraq, well, that's the (wait for it) *Price of Freedom.*
The degeneracy displayed by this reasoning needs no elaborate comment. But I wonder how keyboard Stormtrooper Friedman would feel knowing that he's following the lead of the Porn actresses' best friend on American radio?
DRM