I don't know what Friedman was doing while on vacation, but whatever he did, I hope he keeps on doing it.
His article today rips the Bush administration for failures in energy policy. Friedman calls their energy policy 'No Mullah Left Behind'
Anyway, the first couple paragraphs after the jump, or read the whole thing here
Apologies if this has been diaried already, google turned up nothing.
I really liked Friedman's 'From Beirut to Jerusalem' and had been distressed to see him become ever more self-involved and unreadable as time went by. I had given up reading him about a year ago, when his Bush administration apologies had become too egregious.
But here? He sounds as if he's channeling Krugman. And that can't be bad.
Anyway, without further ado:
The Battle of the Pump
Of all the shortsighted policies of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, none have been worse than their opposition to energy conservation and a gasoline tax. If we had imposed a new gasoline tax after 9/11, demand would have been dampened and gas today would probably still be $2 a gallon. But instead of the extra dollar going to Saudi Arabia - where it ends up with mullahs who build madrasas that preach intolerance - that dollar would have gone to our own Treasury to pay down our own deficit and finance our own schools. In fact, the Bush energy policy should be called No Mullah Left Behind.
Our own No Child Left Behind program has not been fully financed because the tax revenue is not there. But thanks to the Bush-Cheney energy policy, No Mullah Left Behind has been fully financed and is now the gift that keeps on giving: terrorism.
Mr. Bush says we're in "a global war on terrorism.'' That's right. But that war is rooted in the Arab-Muslim world. That means there is no war on terrorism that doesn't involve helping this region onto a more promising path for its huge population of young people - too many of whom are unemployed or unemployable because their oil-rich regimes are resistant to change and their religious leaders are resisting modernity.
Again, the whole thing is here.