Friedman's "Plan B": Exit from Iraq?

Tom Friedman has received a lot of attention for his column “Time for Plan B,” which says about our involvement in Iraq, “Whether for Bush reasons or Arab reasons, it is not happening, and we can’t throw more good lives after good lives.”

In fact though, Friedman’s Plan B isn’t “cut and run.” He wants an international conference to move Iraq’s democracy forward, a step similar to U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad’s proposed conference “in cooperation with the United Nations, to develop an international compact, which will commit Iraq to key reforms in exchange for assistance.”

Friedman is tiring of having to explain why he isn’t a Bush supporter, even though he believes that America benefits from Iraq’s becoming a democracy. He’s now so tired of it that he hints he no longer supports America’s effort in Iraq.

But like Tony Blair, who is under similar pressure from friends and colleagues to disassociate from Bush, Friedman knows how crucial it is that good people stand up to Muslim extremism, and fight back effectively in defense of what Blair calls “tolerance, freedom, respect for difference and diversity,” and Friedman calls democracy.