That's the usual sop that he pens to his bosses. One sentence in per OpEd column is obligatory and critical of pubbies in general or Bush in particular. The rest of the article was dead on, IMHO.
"Ditto Europe vis-à-vis Iran. If the European Union said to the Iranians: "You will shut down your nuclear weapons program and put all your reactors and related facilities under international inspection or you will face a total economic boycott from Europe. Which part of this sentence don't you understand?" Trust me, that is the kind of explicit threat that would get Tehran's attention. Short of that, the Iranians will dicker over their nuclear carpets forever."
Iran would probably say, go find your oil elsewhere.
I agree. Friedman has surprised me more and more recently. I read that the NYT had finally figured out that they were a left wing rag and were losing circulation because of it. They said they were going to be more objective in the future. Maybe that validates your idea that the writers write for the bosses.