I now feel completely justified in my opinion of Thomas Friedman.

Go read Digby on Sunday’s column:

This wishful thinking is running amuck among people who are even less dazzled by the President’s manufactured machismo than Tom Friedman. They cling to the idea that even though this administration has fouled up every single foreign policy initiative, that they wasted all of the U.S. moral authority emanating from 9/11, that they have been proven over and over again to be the boldest and most shameless liars to ever occupy the White House, that somehow they “Just Have To” do this one right. The long bomb “Just Has To” connect.

I think it’s time for everybody to start considering just what we are going to do in the event this thing, like every single other thing this administration has done, goes wrong? What are we going to do when the “It Just Has To Work” theory of geopolitics fails?

Also, go read David E.

This is the result of our “liberation” of Afghanistan. Malnutrition rates have doubled since 2001. We bombed the country from 30,000 feet, killed thousands, and now we’re abandoning it.

Suffering from severe malnutrition and a distended stomach, Ahqel Khan, 2, of Khost, smiles as his grandmother, Khatou, helps him stand, at the Indira Ghandi Children’s Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 25, 2003. Khan’s development skills have been severely stunted due to his malnutrition, and he is still unable to crawl or walk. Dr. Assef Ghecy of the French non-governmental organization Action Contre de la Faim, says that the percentage of children in Kabul suffering from severe malnutrition has increased from 6 percent in 2001 to 11 percent in 2002. This is largely due to inadequate living conditions for recent refugees returning to Afghanistan.

The Village Voice has photographs of New York Daily News photographer Susan Watts getting knocked down at the intersection of 53rd Street and Third Avenue on February 15, 2003 while covering the anti-war rally. Yes, she was knocked to the ground by NYPD officers.

Go read James’s posting of Nicolás Dumit Estévez being arrested while doing a public art project on Valentines Day — giving people flowers in the subway.

Not directly related:

Has anyone else noticed that the NYC media basically never mentions the fact that there are National Guardsmen with automatic weapons in the subways? Are we supposed to just expect things like that now, without comment?

Very cool project, info from MattS originally:

BRIDGE TO BAGHDAD

You are invited to join BRIDGE TO BAGHDAD: A Youth Dialogue.

This Saturday, March 1, from 11:30am to 2pm, DCTV will be hosting a live, satellite conversation between students in Iraq and students in America to include the voice of a younger generation in the current public discourse.

The live conversation will feature a panel of American students representing diverse ethnicities, religions, and political viewpoints; a panel of students in
Baghdad; and a live studio audience that may participate or simply listen. The session will be turned into a program for television.

The program is free and open. Please reserve by writing to justin@dctvny.org or calling 212-925-3429 x243. You must arrive by 11:15am on Saturday to ensure your reservation.

The program will take place at the Cyberstudio at DCTV at 87 Lafayette Street, between Walker and White Streets, near the A, C, E, N, R, Q, W, 6 trains to Canal Street.

More info here.

Busy with work, so I’ll let Atrios explain it for me: why I don’t link to Josh Marshall’s web site anymore. Arguing that it will diminish our standing to not bomb Iraq, even if it’s a bad idea, is outrageous, stupid, and immoral.

A bipartisan group of former United States Senators today announced its opposition to the Bush Administration’s plans to invade Iraq.

No War Blog: Ari gets laughed out of the room — C-SPAN has the video. You can hear a reporter say “Laughed off the stage” after Ari leaves.

Ari Fleischer is laughed off the stage by reporters when he says, “You’re saying that the leaders of other nations are buyable. And that is not an acceptable proposition.”

Kieran Healy has a Public Service Announcement that everyone should read.