Come again?

ufffff... In the days leading up to the invasion of Iraq, Friedman was a cheer-leader. He didn't care about anything anyone said, including the millions of demonstrators on the streets all over the world, other governments, or the UN. His consistent justification was something along the lines of 'I spent time in the region and spoke with a lot of intelligent people; they need our help in liberating themselves'.

It should have been 'i hung out in a couple of countries, chatted with some of the elites and two random guys at a cafe; that along with my deep seeded belief that Arabs are incapable of autonomous change or achieving dog eat dog capitalism coupled with my extensive reading of orientalist political literature and concern for Israeli security led me to support the invasion of Iraq. Did I mention that I don't speak Arabic?'

Then he had this epiphany about Bush having his own motives, which he limited to re-election. Apparently, he didn't know that governments sometimes state false reasons to justify their actions....Or, he didn't care and thought it was okay in the case of Iraq. Not that he'd ever say that, but it's lurking somewhere in the background of his editorials.

Now, after his 3 month vacation, the man comes back with a different perspective. As he says, I don't know whether to laugh or cry about those who are addicted to 9/11.

Hey, everyone is entitle to change their minds. And I respect people who admit their mistakes more than those who don't, but when you have a voice as loud as Friedman's, please pay attention to what you're saying. A lot of people's lives depend on it.