[Assam] From NY Times - A good Friedman Piece

[Chan Mahanta]

That Tom Friedman gets it, is heartening. It is 
better late than never. One of his better pieces.

cm

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/opinion/30friedman.html?em&ex=1191470400&en=484c104ee5c0477f&ei=5087%0A


OP-ED COLUMNIST
9/11 Is Over


By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: September 30, 2007
Not long ago, the satirical newspaper The Onion 
ran a fake news story that began like this:
Skip to next paragraph

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Thomas L. Friedman
Go to Columnist Page »
"At a well-attended rally in front of his new 
ground zero headquarters Monday, former New York 
City Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his 
plan to run for president of 9/11. 'My fellow 
citizens of 9/11, today I will make you a 
promise,' said Giuliani during his 18-minute 
announcement speech in front of a charred and 
torn American flag. 'As president of 9/11, I will 
usher in a bold new 9/11 for all.' If elected, 
Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 
President George W. Bush, including making grim 
facial expressions, seeing the world's conflicts 
in terms of good and evil, and carrying a 
bullhorn at all state functions."
Like all good satire, the story made me both 
laugh and cry, because it reflected something so 
true - how much, since 9/11, we've become "The 
United States of Fighting Terrorism." Times 
columnists are not allowed to endorse candidates, 
but there's no rule against saying who will not 
get my vote: I will not vote for any candidate 
running on 9/11. We don't need another president 
of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12. I will 
only vote for the 9/12 candidate.
What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us 
stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered 
on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 - mine 
included - has knocked America completely out of 
balance, and it is time to get things right again.
It is not that I thought we had new enemies that 
day and now I don't. Yes, in the wake of 9/11, we 
need new precautions, new barriers. But we also 
need our old habits and sense of openness. For 
me, the candidate of 9/12 is the one who will not 
only understand who our enemies are, but who we 
are.
Before 9/11, the world thought America's slogan 
was: "Where anything is possible for anybody." 
But that is not our global brand anymore. Our 
government has been exporting fear, not hope: 
"Give me your tired, your poor and your 
fingerprints."
You may think Guantánamo Bay is a prison camp in 
Cuba for Al Qaeda terrorists. A lot of the world 
thinks it's a place we send visitors who don't 
give the right answers at immigration. I will not 
vote for any candidate who is not committed to 
dismantling Guantánamo Bay and replacing it with 
a free field hospital for poor Cubans. Guantánamo 
Bay is the anti-Statue of Liberty.
Roger Dow, president of the Travel Industry 
Association, told me that the United States has 
lost millions of overseas visitors since 9/11 - 
even though the dollar is weak and America is on 
sale. "Only the U.S. is losing traveler volume 
among major countries, which is unheard of in 
today's world," Mr. Dow said.
Total business arrivals to the United States fell 
by 10 percent over the 2004-5 period alone, while 
the number of business visitors to Europe grew by 
8 percent in that time. The travel industry's 
recent Discover America Partnership study 
concluded that "the U.S. entry process has 
created a climate of fear and frustration that is 
turning away foreign business and leisure 
travelers and hurting America's image abroad." 
Those who don't visit us, don't know us.
I'd love to see us salvage something decent in 
Iraq that might help tilt the Middle East onto a 
more progressive pathway. That was and is 
necessary to improve our security. But sometimes 
the necessary is impossible - and we just can't 
keep chasing that rainbow this way.
Look at our infrastructure. It's not just the 
bridge that fell in my hometown, Minneapolis. Fly 
from Zurich's ultramodern airport to La Guardia's 
dump. It is like flying from the Jetsons to the 
Flintstones. I still can't get uninterrupted 
cellphone service between my home in Bethesda and 
my office in D.C. But I recently bought a pocket 
cellphone at the Beijing airport and immediately 
called my wife in Bethesda - crystal clear.
I just attended the China clean car conference, 
where Chinese automakers were boasting that their 
2008 cars will meet "Euro 4" - European Union - 
emissions standards. We used to be the gold 
standard. We aren't anymore. Last July, 
Microsoft, fed up with American restrictions on 
importing brain talent, opened its newest 
software development center in Vancouver. That's 
in Canada, folks. If Disney World can remain an 
open, welcoming place, with increased but 
invisible security, why can't America?
We can't afford to keep being this stupid! We 
have got to get our groove back. We need a 
president who will unite us around a common 
purpose, not a common enemy. Al Qaeda is about 
9/11. We are about 9/12, we are about the Fourth 
of July - which is why I hope that anyone who 
runs on the 9/11 platform gets trounced.
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