DRUDGE has this today.
Speaking at a French cultural center in Hanoi ahead of Friday’s opening of a summit of European and Asian leaders, Chirac said France was right to stand up for cultural and linguistic diversity.
I wonder if he spoke in French or Vietnamese.
Frank asks, “What’s Missing From Kerry’s Vocabulary?”
In 1971, he said this:
“we cannot fight communism all over the world, and I think we should have learned that lesson by now.”
I won’t spoil the rest of it for you. He has broken the code that’s troubled him for nine months regarding Kerry’s mein.
Tomorrow there will be elections in Afghanistan. The first. This morning’s NPR report spoke of how this election has more legitimacy than the ones upcoming in Iraq because the UN is involved. I guess they think the UN is a legitimate organization.
The report also spoke of how contentious the election could be. Karzai has already had his life threatened, and has survived attacks. Thugs have trashed campaign organization offices, and some people are being threatened if they vote.
My goodness. Good thing we don’t have those problems here. (Thanks, Sarah) Our President and other candidates might need to have bodyguards. And we know nobody in this country would threaten a fellow citizen for their choice of candidate.
I’m just a Pollyanna.
***UPDATE***
Scott Norvell has a great piece at Tech Central Station.
I understand there is another debate tonight. I won’t watch this one either. I already know which candidate I am going to vote for. I’ve known for three years. The only Democrat I would have considered was Joe Leiberman, and the Democrats didn’t want him. He is too sane.
The debates really serve no purpose. Who in this country really don’t know for whom they will vote. The debates are far more akin to a sporting event. Two competitors vie for a win, and their supporters cheer them from the sidelines. Afterwards, there will be all kinds of analysis of mistakes and touchdowns.
On his show yesterday, Lago had Gary, the creator of many political graphics you’ve seen. Check this one.
Now that we have the official report on Saddam’s WMD programs, I think it is time for a little reflection. Probably not the kind you might expect, though.
I think we should all take a deep breath and consider this whole thing in a logical manner. I know that will be tough for some, but stick with me just for a few more seconds.
From the beginning we’ve had some sincere, and some not so sincere, people say we should simply let the UN inspectors continue their valuable work in ferreting out Saddam’s weapons programs. The first logical point to make is that the UN sanctions and the cease-fire agreement from 1991 did not state that he had to let us look for things. It said he must demonstrate compliance. He did not. In fact, he did what he could to make it difficult to determine whether he complied or not. Okay.
So, we invaded Iraq some 18 months ago and deposed him. Some still cried that we should have given the inspectors more time. Kerry and Edwards are still saying that. So is Kofi Annan.
My question to them is, and they’ve been asked this many times with no suitable answer, how long do we continue inspections? Six months. A year? Eighteen months?
Well, we are now at the eighteen month point. Consider that for a second.
In eighteen months of unhindered inspection we have not been able to find any WMD stockpiles. With his propensity for delay, and stooges within the UN teams, how long would it have taken for us to reach this stage of confidence had he still been in power? Two years? Three? Ten?
And in that time, knowing what we now know regarding the UN, Russia, and France, is there really any doubt that something terrible would have happened? And would that have led to even more drastic action than we have already taken?
I’m not precient. But I do have some understanding of people like Saddam. Once he felt comfortable in his little shell game with inspectors, and had reason to believe his infiltration of their ranks was solid, some very nasty chemicals would have made their way into the US.
Have no doubts about that.
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