Kerry's Foreign Policy Collapse

With Kerry's widely unreported and ignored admission that he would not be able to convince France or Germany join the United States in Iraq -- despite his campaign promises-- we now have the famous 1,000 page report from the Iraq Survey Group which contains the following conclusions:

Saddam Hussein believed he could avoid the Iraq war with a bribery strategy targeting Jacques Chirac, the President of France, according to devastating documents released last night.



Memos from Iraqi intelligence officials, recovered by American and British inspectors, show the dictator was told as early as May 2002 that France - having been granted oil contracts - would veto any American plans for war.

...

To keep America at bay, he focusing [sic] on Russia, France and China - three of the five UN Security Council members with the power to veto war. Politicians, journalists and diplomats were all given lavish gifts and oil-for-food vouchers.



Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi deputy prime minister, told the ISG that the "primary motive for French co-operation" was to secure lucrative oil deals when UN sanctions were lifted. Total, the French oil giant, had been promised exploration rights.



Iraqi intelligence officials then "targeted a number of French individuals that Iraq thought had a close relationship to French President Chirac," it said, including two of his "counsellors" for his re-election campaign. [Emphsis added]

May I agree with Glenn Reynolds (aka "Instapundit")?

It's hard to pass the "Global Test" when the people grading it are being bribed to administer a failing grade. Perhaps Kerry should change his stance, and promise that a Kerry Administration would "outbid the bad guys." That approach is more likely to succeed than the one he's been touting, which even he has admitted is doomed.

Claudia Rosett , seemingly the only journalist interested in the UN Oil-for-Fraud scandal, had this to say:

As Duelfer documents, Oil-for-Food allowed Saddam to replenish his empty coffers, firm up his networks for hiding money and buying arms, corrupt the U.N.'s own debates over Iraq, greatly erode sanctions and deliberately prep the ground for further rearming, including the acquisition of nuclear weapons. As set up and run by the U.N., Oil-for-Food devolved into a depraved and increasingly dangerous mockery of what was advertised by the U.N. as a relief program for sick and starving Iraqis.

So here we have Saddam Hussein, murderer of 500,000 Kurds, working with UN Security Council members to undermine the United States so that he could later resume production, acquisition, and eventual use of biological, chemical, and, yes, nuclear weapons. But naturally, the decision to remove Saddam was, according to Kerry, "wrong."

The New Soldier - Now Available Online

(Hat tip to Little Green Footballs)



John Kerry has been trying to buy up copies of his 1971 book "The New Soldier" for a number of years. As a service to those who may be curious, FreeKerryBook.org gas created a PDF version of the book which you can download for free here.

Stuck on a Velcro Wall

Last Friday, the seminary community held a little to-do in the common area surrounding the student housing. The main attraction was an enormous velcro wall, orginally made famous by David Letterman. I couldn't resist.

Moi Stuck on a Velcro Wall Originally uploaded by whatnext.

Seminary Updates

A couple of developments have transpired over the past few days:

• I received a passing grade on my first-ever seminary exam, a short-answer test on Church History. I missed one point because I failed to provide an orthodox response to Marcionism. I'm a bit frustrated about the mistake. I knew the answer, but was so concerned about the legibility of my handwriting that I forgot to double-check. Nonetheless, I'm thrilled with the result, because it gives me some hope that I still have some student left in me.
• Second, I'm now one of two newly-elected Student Senators representing the Junior (first-year) class. A fellow junior graciously asked if I would like to be nominated. I responded affirmatively, and I'm deeply honored to have been given this opportunity to serve such a wonderful community.

Now, back to Calvin.

The Natives are Getting Restless

Do date, I haven't yet disclosed my position on Ra^thergate. Opps, I think I just did. He's totally busted, along with Mapes, Joe Lockhart, and these rest of the CBS/DNC/Kerry Memogate axis.



Glenn Reynolds notes that these ads are running during the CBS nightly news in some markets. Enjoy.

Mark D. Roberts on Faith and Public Life

I was poking around Hugh Hewitt's blog today and read his post lauding the work of Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts. After perusing Mark's site, I enthusiastically link :: What Next? :: readers to his five-part series entitled "The Church and Politics in America."

Fantasyland?

Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Allawi visited Washington earlier this week to address Congress. On Thursday, he stood with President Bush in the Rose Garden for a joint press conference. Mr. Allawi was totally ignored by the press.



After the Bush/Allawi press conference, John Kerry was actually asked the following question by a reporter accompanying him in Ohio:



"Allawi told Congress today democracy was taking hold in Iraq and the terrorists were there on the defense. Is he living in the same fantasy land as the president?"



I no longer use the term "unbelievable" to describe such questions from our "unbiased," "professional" mainstream media. Coming from them, this type of question is utterly believable, and will become increasingly so as the major news outlets come to terms with an increasingly certain Bush victory in November.



Mark Steyn, meanwhile, will have none of this:

It would be nice to think this was a somewhat crude attempt at irony, but given America's Ratherized media this seems unlikely. Just for the record, Allawi is not living in a fantasyland. He's living in Iraq, and he begins his day with a dangerous commute across Baghdad's ''Green Zone.'' John Kerry's regular commute, by contrast, is from his wife's beach compound at Nantucket to his wife's 15th century English barn reconstructed as a ski lodge in Idaho. Nonetheless, he's the expert on Iraq and the guy living there 24/7 is the fantasist, and he's happy to assure us the prime minister doesn't know what he's talking about. It's all going to hell, forget about those January elections, etc.

For my part, the press has a lowsy record reporting on the successes in Iraq. The talking heads concluded that a transition from the CPA to an interim Iraqi government would have to be delayed. Instead, the transition happened early. Now these same doom-sayers are predicting a delayed election. On these and most other major events in Iraq, the press have got it wrong.