You've got to catch Thomas Friedman's current gig on C-SPAN's Book TV. He's got the most reasonable things to say about the Iraq situation I've heard. Among other things, he points out that both the Right and the Left lack moral seriousness about Iraq. To think about the situation clearly, he points out, we have to try to forget how we got there--that is, forget about the fact that the Administration shamelessly lied to us. That they did, of course, is beyond dispute at this point. But there we are, in Iraq, and we've got to deal with the situation as it is. Liberals have to acknowledge, among other things, that "some things are true, even if George Bush believes them." Friedman himself acknowledges that he had a hard time coming to grips with that. (Testify, brother...) But this is the only chance the Iraqi people have to attain a state in which they can have livable lives. And, furthermore, this is a fight we can't afford to lose. And the Right has to acknowledge, among other things, that we can't do this AND have massive tax cuts for the super-rich. It's not fair that the only people who are being asked to sacrifice are the troops on the ground. The thing that was most impressive about Friedman, though, was his obvious commitment to objectivity. The moderator even commented on this after his talk, pointing out that the spirit he displayed was even more important than the things he said, which was, oddly enough, true.