The capture of former Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein has made for an apple cart
upset from the Democrat Presidential campaigns to
the stage of world leaders. With a growing economy
and the capture of Saddam Hussein, Democrat
candidates today are scrambling to position
themselves in the right position: first, to win
the nomination; and second -- to beat Bush.
Yesterday, everyone except Sen.
Joe Lieberman was running away from their vote in
support of the Iraq War. After the capture of
Hussein, everyone who voted for the war was
mentioning their vote. This was especially true of
Rep. Dick Gephardt and Sen. John Kerry. Wesley
Clark predictably praised the military for its
great success.
History frequently changes
political fortunes, as was the case of Winston
Churchill in World War II. Now today, Democrat
candidates are looking to realign their campaigns
in the face of changing events. However, world
leaders from France, Germany and Russia may also
be worrying about what Saddam Hussein may tell
Americans about their cooperation in the killing
of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and others.
IPW
previous report of 12-12-03 tells the story:
Contract ban
President Bush received an encouraging word of
support from the Iraqi foreign minister on his
banning of those who opposed the war form $18.6
billion appropriated by Congress.
Reuters reports:
Not only did these countries not help the Iraqi
people, some of them opposed the war and others
supported the dictatorship of this bloody regime
in oppressing the Iraqi people through the
years," said Hoshiyar Zebari during a visit to
Qatar Thursday.
"We Iraqis remember these things, and remember
those who stood by us and those who stood
against us," he said in remarks aired Friday by
Arabic-language television network Al Jazeera.
Zebari suggested that there was room for these
countries -- which include France, Germany and
Russia -- to make improvements in their
relationship with Iraq:
"There is room regarding these countries and
this issue could be revised if these countries
changed their negative attitude and their
disregard of the Iraqi cause," Zebari said.
In an amazing display of
serendipitous timing, both the London
Telegraph Herald and the Weekly Standard
are reporting on al-Qaeda training that
took place under the knowledge of Saddam
Hussein. The
Telegraph Herald reports:
Iraq's coalition government claims that it has
uncovered documentary proof that Mohammed Atta,
the al-Qaeda mastermind of the September 11
attacks against the US, was trained in Baghdad by
Abu Nidal, the notorious Palestinian terrorist.
If that isn’t damning enough to
the Democrat candidates and liberal peace-now
organizations, the following report is searing
those organizations’ denials of the evil and
perpetual dangers facing America:
In the memo, Habbush reports that Atta "displayed
extraordinary effort" and demonstrated his ability
to lead the team that would be "responsible for
attacking the targets that we have agreed to
destroy".
The second part of the memo, which is headed
"Niger Shipment", contains a report about an
unspecified shipment - believed to be uranium -
that it says has been transported to Iraq via
Libya and Syria.
So, what is the political
landscape given these extraordinary changes of
events and the likely future changes of events?
First of all, Howard Dean, Joe
Trippi and Al Gore are having long conversations
about what to do next. Bet on Al Gore taking the
hard road and leaving Dean some room to continue
to argue that Bush is wrong.
Watch Sen. John Kerry continue
to weave and bob to the point that no one knows
what he is doing -- most especially the voters.
Watch Rep. Dick Gephardt
continue to criticize anyone coming close to
challenging him in Iowa and thus securing for him
the position of being the alternative to Dean.
Watch John Edwards continue to
prove that nice guys don’t win as he sticks to his
positive message. But, watch out for this guy in
the future…
Watch Sen. Joe Lieberman say he
was right -- and continue to lose ground.
Watch Wesley Clark Be brilliant
for a moment, then blow it.
Watch Dennis Kucinich on his way
to being reelected Congressman from Cleveland and
VP to Ralph Nader on the Green Party ticket.
The rest doesn’t really matter…
Al Sharpton is no Jessie Jackson, and Carol Mosley
Braun is no Betty Frieden.
So, you ask: who is the nominee?
The fat lady has not yet sung. However, think
about Saddam Hussein being tried for “War Crimes”
by the Iraqi people in, say, September or October…
Think about Hussein spilling his guts about
whatever went on before then -- like weapons of
mass destruction; like how the international
community helped him kill thousands, nay millions;
like how he was intimately involved with the
mastermind of 9-11, Mohammed Atta…
These are not good times for the
‘Kumbaya’ crowd.
