The sad thing is I believe most Americans would be saying the same thing as Friedman had the war gone well. The American people have not miraculously seen the "evil of their ways" as it were. Just as suddenly as all Americans became eco-conscious as the price of gasoline went up, all have become moral bastions now that the war has gone sour.

However they are no more invested in eco-consciousness than the idea that unilateral use of force is wrong. In the end most believed that this war was ok, and would still believe so if it wasn't so badly executed. We shall see the same with the environment - as gas drops, so shall SUVs become popular again, damn the environment.

That in the end is what is most disturbing about this war - we got to see the real soul of the nation. They were happy to invade a country for immoral pretenses, we still don't give a damn about habeas corpus, and we still are happy to ignore the torture that went on. The election of Obama ultimately changes nothing of this - there has been no national reconciliation to the evils of the last 8 years.

fine work glenn. this guy is a joke. this was funny - friedman's tough guy routine during the campaign.

http://www.supercollide.com/2008/09/making-america-stupid.html

is not to do them at all.

I have not read through all these letters, but just want to thank Glenn for these revisionist articles. I was once a Friedman fan. I suffer from what I call, the "Superman" complex: the need to try to fix everything that is wrong with the world. That's pretty much the reason that I did not protest the war, (if not exactly supporting it, I guess I am revising myself, if I want to be honest). Even if, in the end, Iraq becomes everything the US hoped it would become, how can we say that there was no other way to achieve the same end? I desperately hope that the Obama administration can throw out the foreign policy of the 20th century (big sticks) and come up with something new. I, like many Americans perhaps, have this fear that, if we let down our guard, we are going to get stomped on. But Obama has my support if he tries. I won't be relying on Tom Friedman as a guide.