The reason I personally don't go that far is because by in large, average Americans are in no phsycial or mental position to break out of their ignorance over what their government actually does.
Whether he meant it this way or not - which is irrelevent - I think that Freidman's criticism is useful if understood as directed towards the Saudi elites, not the society they influence. The U.S. elites should be subjected to the same type of criticism. A Freidman won't do that, but a Chomsky will. A Chomsky, however, will likely limit his criticism to those things he knows aren't criticized in the mainstream columns, whether or not the mainstream criticisms have elements of validity.
_________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp