Book Review | Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World Before and After September 11

By Thomas L. Friedman.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn’t it? To be able to belittle a decision made in the past by dissecting its subsequent ramifications is always tempting.

In his book Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World Before and After September 11, Tom Friedman does not rely on hindsight in his criticisms of US Middle East policy. Friedman warned of the dangers of invading Iraq long before US warplanes began levelling Baghdad and he has the column inches to prove it.

Longitudes and Attitudes is a collection of Freidman’s columns in the New York Times and its timeline closely follows the attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001, it is relevant as informed commentary of what remains the single most significant world event of the 21st Century.

Friedman became the Times’ foreign-affairs columnist in 1995 and specialises in Mid-East politics. He was bureau chief in Beirut and then Jerusalem during the eighties, and he has contacts throughout region including sheiks, princes, politicians, and businessmen. Few Westerners are as qualified to report from the area and his reports are closely followed by those with an interest in international affairs.

The crux of the early warning about the invasion was the tribal differences between the Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish peoples. Friedman realised that the autocratic rule of Saddam Hussein suppressed deep ethnic divisions and historical conflicts that had not been resolved. While the despotic rule of the Iraqi president was at times murderous he maintained an uneasy stability. Friedman predicted the civil war that now threatens to tear the country apart.

Since the book was published Friedman has become somewhat more hawkish, preferring to concentrate on the present and what must be done to resolve the conflict. This realism is worthy from a commentator who could draw on his own warnings to continue to criticise the decision to invade. You get the genuine feeling both in the book, and in Freidman’s subsequent columns, that he does care about the region, not just the Israelis, but the Palestinians, and Iraqis too.

In reference to events on September 11th 2001, Friedman is pensive after the event and his shock is evident in his writing, everyone knew the world had changed but to re-read documentation (even commentary) is useful for those with an interest in foreign affairs and in particular US policy abroad.

If there is a criticism of Friedman it is his approach to al Qaida. Friedman like most Americans is unable to see beyond the pain of 9/11. He lacks the philosophical dissection that is evident in many European commentators; Friedman like most Americans wears his wounds on his sleeve.

Even with the above criticism considered the collection remains a worthy addition to the 9/11 literary cannon.