Lefty columnist Marc Cooper is dismayed by the Naomi Klein piece romanticizing Al Sadr in The Nation:
Sadness. More sadness than anger is what overcame me when I read the latest Nation magazine column by Naomi Klein. I?ll grant it has a catchy title: ?From Najaf to New York.? But this column by Klein, who has earned the admiration of a new generation of dissidents with a notable intellectual keen-ness, unwittingly reveals the moral confusion that clouds the vision, even the rationality, of much of the anti-war movement.
Make sure you click the link above to read her entire piece and to make sure I do it justice in this critique. (Please also read Norman Geras? take on this column as well). I had several friends call me in disbelief when they read Klein’s manifesto. I read it three times to make sure I got it right.
And, alas, I can only conclude that the column is a forthright apology for the religio-fascist militias of Muqtada Al Sadr. Indeed, it?s damn near a call for the peace movement to join in solidarity with his Mahdi Army.
The loon who mentioned it in my comments should read this.