P.J. O'Rourke:No, it turns out Saddam Hussein didn't have weapons of mass destruction. And how crazy does that make Saddam? All he had to do was tell Hans Blix, "Look anywhere you want. Look under the bed. Look beneath the couch. Look behind the toilet tank in the third presidential palace on the left, but keep your mitts off my copies of Maxim." And Saddam could have gone on dictatoring away until Donald Rumsfeld gets elected head of the World Council of Churches.

-- The Driver || Posted at 11:23 AM -- |

 
Reach out to Egypt?

John Kerry, in today's New York Times:

"A new presidency with the right moves, the right language, the right outreach, the right initiatives, can dramatically alter the world’s perception of us very, very quickly.

I know Mubarak well enough to know what I think I could achieve in the messaging and in the press in Egypt,” Kerry went on.

Ah, so Sen. Kerry believes the problem with Egypt is "perception" and "messaging." Let's quote some Egyptians, from the Jerusalem Post:

General (Ret.) Muhammad Abdel Fattah Omar, a former senior official with the Egyptian Ministry of Interior, which is responsible for the country's security services, was one of the first Egyptians to accuse Israel of masterminding the attacks.

"In each operation, we should first try to find out who benefits from it," he said. "Israel is the only party that benefits from the Sinai attacks. The Israelis and their agents are the only ones who are able to enter this area without difficulty."...

Abdullah al-Ashal, a former top official with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, said he had no doubts that Israeli hands were involved in the bombings. "Israel's ultimate plan is to bring Egypt to its knees and eliminate its regional role," he told the IslamOnline Web site.

Ashal, who served as assistant foreign minister, went on to claim that by pointing a finger at al-Qaida, Israel was seeking to include Egypt in the US-led war on terror...

Diaa Rashwan, an expert in the Islamic movements affairs in Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies, an Egyptian think-tank, also agreed that Al-Qaeda was not a likely culprit.

No wonder the Israelis are sweating a Kerry victory. In the Times article, Kerry continued by saying:

"I mean, you ever hear anything about the ‘road map’ anymore?" he asked, referring to the international plan for phasing in peace between Israel and the Palestinians, which Kerry supports. “No."

I can tell you why we don't hear about the road map, but I'd rather let President Bush tell you. From Friday night's presidential debate:

Question: You know, I've made some decisions on Israel that's unpopular. I wouldn't deal with Arafat, because I felt like he had let the former president down, and I don't think he's the kind of person that can lead toward a Palestinian state. 

And people in Europe didn't like that decision. And that was unpopular, but it was the right thing to do.

I believe Palestinians ought to have a state, but I know they need leadership that's committed to a democracy and freedom, leadership that would be willing to reject terrorism.

In the vice-presidential debate, Vice-President Cheney made the same point:

In respect to Israel and Palestine, Gwen, the suicide bombers, in part, were generated by Saddam Hussein, who paid $25,000 to the families of suicide bombers. 

I personally think one of the reasons that we don't have as many suicide attacks today in Israel as we've had in the past is because Saddam is no longer in business.

We've been strong supporters of Israel. The president stepped forward and put in place a policy basically that said we will support the establishment of two states. First president ever to say we'll establish and support a Palestinian state nextdoor to Israelis.

But first, there has to be an interlocutor you can trust and deal with. And we won't have that, we don't have it now, in a Yasser Arafat. There has to be reform of the Palestinian system.

Sen. Edwards followed up with one of his most amazing remarks of the night:

No, I did talk about it, Israel. He's the one who didn't talk about it.

-- The Driver || Posted at 11:44 PM -- |

 
The inconsistency at the heart of it all: Jason Van Steenwyck nails the unrealistic wishful thinking that has Democrats believing that they can simultaneously attack President Bush for doing too much in Iraq and not enough in Iran:

How in the WORLD would we convince Iran to give up it's own nuclear program so long as it was the considered opinion of Iran, Israel, the United States, the senior leadership of the Iraqi army, and every reputable intelligence agency in the world that Iraq was still keeping WMDs? Why would Iran ever THINK of dismantling its nuclear program? Indeed, it would be stupid to do so, given Saddam Hussein's demonstrated intent.

-- The Driver || Posted at 11:35 PM -- |