I'm very proud that searching Google for "Thomas Friedman idiot" brings up one of my posts near the top.

Courtesy of Atrios, I see that he is still an idiot. Here are excerpts from two of his columns, 11 days apart:

August 20, 2003, NYT
No Time to Lose in Iraq

"Everyone has advice now for the U.S.: bring in U.N. peacekeepers, bring in the French. They're all wrong. There are only two things we need: more Americans out back and more Iraqis out front."

August 31, 2003, NYT
Policy Lobotomy Needed

"Our Iraq strategy needs an emergency policy lobotomy. President Bush needs to shift to a more U.N.-friendly approach, with more emphasis on the Iraqi Army (the only force that can effectively protect religious sites in Iraq and separate the parties), and with more input from Secretary of State Colin Powell and less from the "we know everything and everyone else is stupid" civilian team running the Pentagon.

There is no question that we would benefit from a new U.N. mandate that puts U.S. forces in Iraq under a stronger U.N. umbrella."

I recommend sending an email to letters@nytimes.com and asking them about this.