New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said Tuesday he's "bleeping tired" of making Iraq safe for Chinese oil investments at the expense of forces from the United States and other coalition nations.
Friedman told Fox Business Network host Don Imus that while China is Iraq's leading oil investor, the country has not indicated whether it will be involved in the military coalition forming to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) militants who've been rampaging through northern Iraq.
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"Guess who's the leading oil investor in Iraq today?" he asks Imus. "It's a country called China, and I'm bleeping tired of making Iraq safe for Chinese oil investments."
"When I see this coalition being formed, I'm saying, 'Where's the China brigade?'" Friedman said. "Holding our coat again while we expend another trillion dollars, making Iraq safe for their oil exports?"
Friedman the only way to take down ISIS "is boots on the ground, going door to door… and that's going to have to be the people out there," including Iraqis, Kurds, moderate Iranians, and moderate Shiites.
"I advocate moving on with — and only with — a coalition that's ready to put boots on the ground," he said. "We'll do the air stuff… the intel. But I'll be damned if I'm going to put American men and women in there to do the work for them."
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