Well, the president flew off to Iraq for a secret trip, the latest photo-op designed to convince us that, yes, “victory” is just around the corner. Understand that this has nothing to do with the facts on the ground–a country ripped apart by an illegal, immoral war. This photo-op is about one thing only: domestic politics.

Interestingly, the photo-op of Bush in Iraq reminded me of the link the president shares with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. I recognize that I am among the minority of people who think Friedman has been wrong on the vast majority of issues–globalization and so-called “free trade” to name one issue. But, it is most startling to go back and read a study done by Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), the media watchdog group, regarding Friedman’s pronouncements about Iraq.

Last month, FAIR documented Freidman’s repeated assertions, during the course of the war, that today/this week/this month U.S. policy in Iraq, and the country itself, were at a turning point. “If only” X would happen, ah, yes, then we would see a new Iraq and everything would be fine and a new future would dawn.

Of course, as FAIR showed brilliantly, every assertion turned out to be wrong. For example:

“The next six months in Iraq—which will determine the prospects for democracy-building there—are the most important six months in U.S. foreign policy in a long, long time.”
(New York Times, 11/30/03)

“What we’re gonna find out, Bob, in the next six to nine months is whether we have liberated a country or uncorked a civil war.”
(CBS’s Face the Nation, 10/3/04)

“I think we’re in the end game now…. I think we’re in a six-month window here where it’s going to become very clear and this is all going to pre-empt I think the next congressional election—that’s my own feeling— let alone the presidential one.”
(NBC’s Meet the Press, 9/25/05)

You can read the entire FAIR analysis here.

The point is this. Pro-war Democrats, columnists and pundits carry around the same ideological baggage as this failed president–the idea that the Iraq war was basically the right thing to do and the mess can be fixed if we only did just this…

Such fantasies are the reason tens of thousands of American and Iraqi families must mourn their dead.