Every Iraqi has a maid, and is prepared to learn from the example set by her children, if I am following Tom Friedman:
The other way for us to promote reform [in the Middle East] is to get out of the way so people in the Middle East can see clearly that many of their maids' children — from India, China, Sri Lanka and the Philippines — are excelling at math, science and engineering, leaving Arab children, not to mention many American children, in the dust. (Over one million Indians work in Saudi Arabia alone.)
I'll accept his point that any message to the Middle East crafted by the US provokes the shooting of the messenger. However, is it really news to the intelligentsia of the Arab world that they are falling behind India, China, and the Asian Tigers? If they really need to interview their maid's children to figure that out, I'm not sure Friedman's solution (or any other) will catch much traction.
Now that was just dumb... of you.
Friedman is clearly not talking about Iraqis. To pretend otherwise is disingenuity beneath you.
Tsk, tsk.
Posted by: Hatcher | June 19, 2004 at 09:07 PM