When The Villagers Starts Turning On Ya

As friends know, I am no fan of Thomas Friedman. To himself, he is the man with the plan- if only people in Washington and the Middle East and Israel listened to him, all the problems of the world would be solved. For the rest of the world, he is a widely discredited warmonger and free marketeer. To read a delicious takedown of his new book, check out Matt Taibbi.

I bring him up today, because he is turning on the war in Afghanistan by using Karzai as a scapegoat:

I would not add a single soldier there before this guy, if he does win the presidency, takes visible steps to clean up his government in ways that would be respected by the Afghan people.

This is, of course, a dishonest analysis from a "foreign policy expert" like Friedman. Karzai's corruption has been documented for years. But Friedman is looking for a respectable way out, and for that I commend him. He is after all, one of what Markos Moulitsas calls "the Villagers"- the bloviating pundits who influence Washington policy. Having made a horrendous miscalculation in Afghanistan, as they did in Iraq, these Villagers want to save face, and get out of Afghanistan without conceding that we never should have occupied the country in the first place. Of course, it's Karzai's fault!

Obama will ultimately be taken to task for highlighting Afghanistan as "a war of necessity" when it clearly is not. But if he can get away with blaming the whole situation on Karzai, that's one last half-lie I'm willing to stomach to get our troops back home.