Friedman Unit

The term is in reference to a May 16, 2006, article by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) detailing the repeated use by columnist Thomas Friedman of "the next six months" as the period in which, according to Friedman, "we're going to find out... whether a decent outcome is possible" in the Iraq War.{{cite web | url =http://fair.org/extra/tom-friedman8217s-flexible-deadlines/ | title = Tom Friedman's Flexible Deadlines | date = 2006-05-16 | publisher = Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting | access-date = 2017-07-19}} As documented by FAIR, Friedman had been making such six-month predictions for a period of two and a half years, on at least fourteen different occasions, starting with a column in the November 30, 2003, edition of The New York Times, in which he stated: "The next six months in Iraq—which will determine the prospects for democracy-building there—are the most important six months in U.S. foreign policy in a long, long time."{{cite news | work = The New York Times | title = The Chant Not Heard | first = Thomas L | last = Friedman | date = 2003-11-30 | page = WK 9}}

In tribute to Friedman's recurring prognostications, blogger Duncan Black (Atrios) coined the eponymous unit.{{cite book |author=Christopher Cerf |author2=Victor S. Navasky |title=Mission Accomplished! Or How We Won the War in Iraq: The Experts Speak |year=2008 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |pages=158 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FEPwA_6SWGwC&dq=%22Friedman+Unit%22&pg=PA158 |isbn=9781416570257}}

Similar predictions by others began to be judged by the new metric in the blogosphere. For example, Zalmay Khalizad, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, had said in June 2005 that "the next nine months are critical", now interpreted as predicting that in 1.5 Friedman units the U.S. might have a better grasp on the situation.{{cite book |author=Matthew Yglesias |title=Heads in the Sand: How the Republicans Screw Up Foreign Policy and Foreign Policy Screws Up the Democrats |year=2008 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |pages=xi | url=https://archive.org/details/headsinsandhowre00ygle |url-access=registration |quote=Friedman Unit. |isbn=9780470086223}}

In September, 2007, Friedman agreed not to call for any more FUs: "Stephen Colbert brings on Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat.... Colbert offers up the same six months (also known as a Friedman Unit or FU) that Friedman has spent the last four years claiming would be all we need to see "success in Iraq", but Friedman admits we're all out of FUs."{{cite web | url = http://crooksandliars.com/2007/09/25/the-colbert-report-tom-friedman-admits-were-out-of-fus-in-iraq/ | title = The Colbert Report: Tom Friedman admits we're out of FUs in Iraq | date = 2007-09-24 | first = Nicole | last = Belle | publisher = Crooks and Liars | access-date = 2013-03-07}} However, in July, 2008, he again called for a delay in Barack Obama's plan to withdraw troops from Iraq, in effect adopting John McCain's position.{{cite web | url = http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/07/23/555637/-BREAKING-Tom-Friedman-asking-for-another-Friedman-Unit | title = BREAKING: Tom Friedman asking for another Friedman Unit. | date = 2008-07-23 | author = Bartimus Blue | publisher = Daily Kos | access-date = 2013-03-09}} Even after Barack Obama had designated the summer of 2010 as his goal for starting to bring American troops home from Iraq, with the end of 2010 as his deadline, in October 2008 Friedman was reported as calling for another Friedman unit, giving his opinion that, if elected, President Obama should let troops remain until 2011.{{cite web | url = http://thinkprogress.org/media/2008/10/19/30926/friedman-obama-six-months/ | title = Friedman Wants Obama to Add a Friedman Unit to His Iraq Withdrawal Timeline | date = 2008-10-19 | first = Ben | last = Armbruster | website = ThinkProgress | access-date = 2013-03-07}}

A Way with Words noted that Friedman had also been calling for more Friedman units in other contexts.{{cite web | url = http://www.waywordradio.org/friedman_unit_1/ | title = Friedman unit | date = 2007-05-24 | first = Grant | last = Barrett | publisher = A Way with Words | access-date = 2013-03-08}} This refers to his appearance on The Daily Show on June 12, 2006.{{cite web | url = http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-june-12-2006/thomas-friedman | title = Thomas Friedman talks about solar and wind energy alternatives | date = 2006-06-12 | first = Thomas | last = Friedman |author2=Jon Stewart | work = The Daily Show | access-date = 2013-03-08}}

The term has been used in puns, for example, "Commander of the Friedman Unit," an article about the political hopes of Friedman for a third-party candidate in the U.S. presidential race of 2012.{{cite web | url = https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2012/04/third-party-fantasies | title = Third-party fantasies: Commander of the Friedman unit | work = Democracy in America: American politics | date = 2012-04-19 | author = M.S. | publisher = The Economist blogs | access-date = 2013-03-06}}

{{Expand section|date=December 2016}}

It is used in discussions of whether it's too soon to tell if the U.S. is making progress.{{cite web| url= http://thinkprogress.org/security/2008/01/22/19016/petraeus-six-months/| title = Petraeus: I Need Another Six Months To Determine Whether 'We've Reached A Turning Point' | date = 2008-01-22 | last = Terkel| first = Amanda| website= ThinkProgress| access-date = 2013-03-08}} It worked its way into commentary on the war and whether an interval was indeed critical.{{cite news| url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/05/08/BL2007050800898_pf.html| title = Four more months? | date = 2007-05-08 | last = Froomkin| first = Dan| newspaper= The Washington Post| access-date = 2013-03-08}}

Journalist Spencer Ackerman referred to the unit to measure the progress of American goals in other Middle Eastern countries, such as Afghanistan in 2009: "Ah, the Friedman unit, that beloved Internet tradition denoting the six-month increment many pundits believe will prove decisive in any war, only to be subject to an endless addition of ... Friedman units."{{cite web| url = http://washingtonindependent.com/66043/how-many-friedman-units-for-afghanistan| title = How Many Friedman Units for Afghanistan?| date = 2009-11-02| last = Ackerman| first = Spencer| publisher = the Washington Independent News Network| access-date = 2013-03-07| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130708141540/http://washingtonindependent.com/66043/how-many-friedman-units-for-afghanistan| archive-date = 2013-07-08| url-status = dead}}

Ezra Klein invented another Friedman-based term: "Friedman's Choice ... states that our real choices in Iraq are 10 months or 10 years. Either we commit the resources to entirely rebuild the place over a decade, for which there is little support, or we tell everyone that we will be out within 10 months, or sooner, and we'll deal with the consequences from afar."

• List of humorous units of measurement

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/08/timeline.html Center for American Progress] interactive timeline

{{Thomas Friedman}}

Category:Political neologisms

Category:Units of time

Category:Iraq War terminology

Category:2006 neologisms