"As for Friedman's portrayal of suicide bombing as a distinct characteristic of "Sunni Islamic civilisation" - a result of young Sunnis being "on the one hand, tempted by Western society, and ashamed of being tempted" and "on the other hand... humiliated by Western society" and the superior "spirit of innovation" fostered by Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism (which has debuted as God 0.0) - ambidextrous Sunni humiliation is merely the latest manifestation of Friedman's failure to keep abreast of his own views on certain issues.
Consider his pronouncement three years earlier, in March of 2002, according to which "every day for the past six months, Palestinian men and women - many of them secular, not religious [i.e., not Sunni] - have strapped dynamite around their waists and blown themselves up against Israeli targets".
The following week, Friedman declares a threat to the security of "all of civilisation... because Palestinians are testing out a whole new form of warfare, using suicide bombers... to achieve their political aims," and denounces as "a huge lie" the argument that Palestinian suicide bombing is an effect of "desperation" under the Israeli occupation, since "a lot of other people in the world are desperate, yet they have not gone around strapping dynamite to themselves".
A little over four months later, in August of 2002, Friedman surfaces in Sri Lanka with the following lede: "It's often forgotten that while suicide bombing started in the Middle East, the people who perfected suicide as a weapon of war were the Tamil Tigers militia". It thus appears that suicide bombing is not in fact a "whole new form of warfare" and that Palestinians are not the only ones blowing themselves up, although Friedman still fails to mention other relevant precedents, such as suicide attacks conducted against the Israeli occupation in Lebanon prior to Israel's withdrawal. It also bears emphasising that neither the Tamil Tigers, the Lebanese suicide bombers of Shia, Christian, and Communist background, or the Japanese kamikaze pilots of World War II were Sunni.
Regarding the "huge lie" that desperation has led Palestinians to strap dynamite to themselves, Friedman meanwhile backtracks into acknowledging in 2004 that "I don''t buy it myself, but one can plausibly argue that 37 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank have made Palestinians so crazy that scores of them would have volunteered for suicide bombing missions over the last few years".
Another rare reference to possible causality occurs in 1997: "The reason Israel's security chiefs warned Mr Netanyahu that his [settlement building] in Jerusalem could trigger violence was because they understood that the Palestinians, having no other means to stop Israeli bulldozers, would resort to terrorism"." (thanks Basil)
Consider his pronouncement three years earlier, in March of 2002, according to which "every day for the past six months, Palestinian men and women - many of them secular, not religious [i.e., not Sunni] - have strapped dynamite around their waists and blown themselves up against Israeli targets".
The following week, Friedman declares a threat to the security of "all of civilisation... because Palestinians are testing out a whole new form of warfare, using suicide bombers... to achieve their political aims," and denounces as "a huge lie" the argument that Palestinian suicide bombing is an effect of "desperation" under the Israeli occupation, since "a lot of other people in the world are desperate, yet they have not gone around strapping dynamite to themselves".
A little over four months later, in August of 2002, Friedman surfaces in Sri Lanka with the following lede: "It's often forgotten that while suicide bombing started in the Middle East, the people who perfected suicide as a weapon of war were the Tamil Tigers militia". It thus appears that suicide bombing is not in fact a "whole new form of warfare" and that Palestinians are not the only ones blowing themselves up, although Friedman still fails to mention other relevant precedents, such as suicide attacks conducted against the Israeli occupation in Lebanon prior to Israel's withdrawal. It also bears emphasising that neither the Tamil Tigers, the Lebanese suicide bombers of Shia, Christian, and Communist background, or the Japanese kamikaze pilots of World War II were Sunni.
Regarding the "huge lie" that desperation has led Palestinians to strap dynamite to themselves, Friedman meanwhile backtracks into acknowledging in 2004 that "I don''t buy it myself, but one can plausibly argue that 37 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank have made Palestinians so crazy that scores of them would have volunteered for suicide bombing missions over the last few years".
Another rare reference to possible causality occurs in 1997: "The reason Israel's security chiefs warned Mr Netanyahu that his [settlement building] in Jerusalem could trigger violence was because they understood that the Palestinians, having no other means to stop Israeli bulldozers, would resort to terrorism"." (thanks Basil)
