Thomas Friedman, "The Arab Quarter Century": 90% of Egyptian Women Have Had Their Clitorises Removed

Would-be Middle East expert Thomas Friedman is back with more هراء, i.e. balderdash.

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "The Arab Quarter Century" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/opinion/friedman-the-arab-quarter-century.html?_r=0), Friedman belatedly gets around to acknowledging that "the Arab Spring" is more akin to the Thirty Years' War than the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Yeah, who would have ever guessed . . .

But wait, Friedman is ready with a rejoinder for me:

"Some will say: 'I told you so. You never should have hoped for this Arab Spring.' Nonsense. The corrupt autocracies that gave us the previous 50 years of 'stability' were just slow-motion disasters. Read the U.N.’s 2002 Arab Human Development Report about what deficits of freedom, women’s empowerment and knowledge did to Arab peoples over the last 50 years. Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and Syria are not falling apart today because their leaders were toppled. Their leaders were toppled because for too many years they failed too many of their people. Half the women in Egypt still can’t read. That’s what the stability of the last 50 years bought."

Well actually, Tom, Egyptian President Morsi is telling us that 61% of Egyptian women are illiterate (see: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/tahir-square-tales-egypt/2013/apr/8/egyptian-president-morsis-iniative-support-womens-/). Okay, what difference does another 4 million illiterate Egyptian women make? Actually, a lot.

And then Friedman doesn't mention that 90% of Egyptian women have had their clitorises removed, i.e. undergone female genital mutilation.

Yup, the killing and chaos were coming, and Obama's "lead from behind" strategy in Libya, Egypt and Syria have allowed events to spin out of control. In Egypt, notwithstanding the barbarism being perpetrated against Christian Copts (some 10% of the population), oppression of women, attempts to rein in free speech, and pervasive anti-Semitism, the Obama administration has sought to continue to provide the Muslim Brotherhood regime with $1.5 billion in annual aid (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/world/middleeast/kerry-announces-millions-in-us-aid-for-egypt.html).

Friedman admits that he has been surprised by "two things":

• "The first is how incompetent the Muslim Brotherhood has been."
• "The second surprise? How weak the democratic opposition has been."

The Muslim Brotherhood's incompetence? Tom, just read about their stance on women's rights (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2013/03/you-just-wont-believe-what-obama-is.html). It was all in the cards, but you were having too good a time in Tahrir Square with Roger Cohen and Nicholas Kristof to take notice.

"How weak the democratic opposition has been"? Friedman truly is an imbecile. He honestly expected to see a strong democratic opposition in a country in which 95% of Egyptian Muslims believe it is "good" that Islam plays a large role in politics, and in which 84% of Egyptian Muslims believe that persons abandoning Islam should be executed (see: http://www.pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/).

Friedman's conclusion:

"Given all this, America’s least bad option is to use its economic clout to insist on democratic constitutional rules, regular elections and political openness, and to do all it can to encourage moderate opposition leaders to run for office. We should support anyone who wants to implement the Arab Human Development Report and oppose anyone who doesn’t. That is the only way these societies can give birth to their only hope: a new generation of decent leaders who can ensure that this 'Arab Quarter Century' ends better than it began."

What a naif! Obama reads this poppycock? God help us.