Our own Janeane the Acerbic Goblin had, a few times, suggested I track down a horrifying Tom Friedman moment in Charlie Rose. I admit that I didn't quite believe that even little Tommy Friedman, age 9, could have said something so profoundly awful, and besides the transcript wasn't in Nexis. But then I did find it on google video.
This is the very serious thinking that got us into Iraq. This is the very serious thinking that influences the Villagers. 3 Pulitzers, baby!
About 2:45 in.
I think it [the invasion of Iraq] was unquestionably worth doing, Charlie.
...
We needed to go over there, basically, um, and um, uh, take out a very big state right in the heart of that world and burst that bubble, and there was only one way to do it.
...
What they needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house, from Basra to Baghdad, um and basically saying, "Which part of this sentence don't you understand?"
You don't think, you know, we care about our open society, you think this bubble fantasy, we're just gonna to let it grow?
Well Suck. On. This.
Okay.
That Charlie was what this war was about. We could've hit Saudi Arabia, it was part of that bubble. We coulda hit Pakistan. We hit Iraq because we could.