The good folks at Avocare tipped me off to a new NYT column by globalization optimist Thomas Friedman.

Friedman hints at a more accurate take on the French than we’ve been getting from most McMedia outlets. The French have a long history in the Middle East, and have their own national interests at heart as much as the US does its. France sold Iraq its first nuclear reactor, so it cannot claim to be pure as the morning snow. Since WWII, France has a long history of playing Neuman to America’s Jerry Seinfeld. Those of us who agree with France’s assertions—that the US should get UN approval for an Iraqi war and let the inspectors do their work—shouldn’t romanticize France. Nor should those who oppose the French position demonize them. They’re playing the game as much as we are, and that’s their right.

But more telling is Friedman’s ramping up his criticism of the Bush administration. Although a supporter of a war against Iraq, Friedman quips, “The Bush folks are big on attitude, weak on strategy and terrible at diplomacy.” And he doesn’t stop there:

I am also very troubled by the way Bush officials have tried to justify this war on the grounds that Saddam is allied with Osama bin Laden or will be soon. There is simply no proof of that, and every time I hear them repeat it I think of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. You don’t take the country to war on the wings of a lie.

Harsh words, and a major slap in the face from the predominantly hawkish NYT. Here’s hoping it kicks the stool out from under the Bushies’ rush to an unnecessary war.