New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof is a case study in liberal media hypocrisy regarding intervention in the Middle East. His opinions on the Iraq War (led by Republican president George W. Bush) were hateful, but when Democratic president Barack Obama invaded Libya (also without congressional approval), a newly war-mongering Kristof beamed that we were (yes) greeted as liberators. Now with Donald Trump in charge, going to war in the Middle East is once again dangerous and bad.
Kristof’s March 18 column, “How Trump Should Extricate Himself From His Iran Quagmire,” opened “The ongoing debate about whether the Iran war will become a quagmire misses the point. President Trump and America are already in one.”
In his March 14 column, “Does Trump Risk Turning America Into a Rogue State?” he lamented (after forward United Nation’s lies about Israel targeting children in Gaza): “Now in Iran, I fear we may be retreating even further from the principles we once proclaimed, loosening the shackles that civilized nations place on themselves to protect our shared humanity.”
In a February 28 video opinion, “A War of Choice Does Not Make Us Safer,” Kristof said:
Look, the first mission of a president is to keep Americans safe. In this case, I fear that President Trump, by embarking on a war of choice -- “The United States military began major combat operations in Iran.” he instead has made us less safe and may be putting Americans at risk for months or years to come.
From a February 28 column, “War With Iran Is a Mistake.”
War is uncertain. Sometimes it goes as smoothly as the Persian Gulf war of 1991, and sometimes you find yourself mired in Vietnam, Afghanistan or Iraq. I’ve reported from Iran over the years, and I’ve seen the popular resentment against the government, so maybe the attacks will lead Iran’s government to collapse the way its allies in Syria did in 2024.
Notice there's no mention of the downside of a war Kristof sunnily supported: Obama’s 2011 war in Libya, which led to the overthrow of unstable dictator Moammar Qadhafi but helped usher in Islamic extremism.
On March 24, 2011, the supposedly dovish Times columnist wrote jubilantly from Cairo for the pro-war side -- “Hugs From Libyans” -- announcing that (to coin a phrase) we were being welcomed as liberators in Benghazi -- a city whose name would become infamous 18 months later.
This may be a first for the Arab world: An American airman who bailed out over Libya was rescued from his hiding place in a sheep pen by villagers who hugged him, served him juice and thanked him effusively for bombing their country.
(Something similar happened to a female pilot who crash-landed in Kuwait in early March during the early stages of the Iran operation. Kristof hasn’t mentioned it.)
On March 24, 2011, the Iraq dove claimed the U.S. was being welcomed as liberators in Libya, in a column headlined with a cloying plea: “Is It Better to Save No One?” (Does that standard not apply to the thousands of Iranian citizens slaughtered for protesting their own regime?)
….Mr. Obama and other world leaders did something truly extraordinary, wonderful and rare: they ordered a humanitarian intervention that saved thousands of lives and that even Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s closest aides seem to think will lead to his ouster.
Kristof even called for "a SWAT team of Libyans and coalition forces" to swoop down and seize Qaddafi for trial in The Hague.
On September 1 of that year, Kristof went to Tripoli himself and reported, “‘Thank You, America!’”
Americans are not often heroes in the Arab world, but as nonstop celebrations unfold here in the Libyan capital I keep running into ordinary people who learn where I’m from and then fervently repeat variants of the same phrase: “Thank you, America!”
Kristof hedged his bets on Libya’s future prospects (“The Libyan experiment could yet fail. Yet let’s also savor a historic moment…”) which turned out sadly necessary, exemplified by the September 2012 attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, raising concerns that the Obama administration had been blind to the dangers of Libyan extremist groups.
