With friends like these...

It is being reported that France and Syria have "discussed ways [on] Thursday to coordinate their positions on the U.N. Security Council to avert a war on Iraq, the official Syrian Arab News Agency reported."

Well, isn't this a happy development.

The Left, lead by Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Tom Daschle (D-SD) have been hammering the George Bush, always finding some reason for the US to not attack Iraq. First, they screamed that The Administration didn't consult them and demanded that a debate take place. After it took place, the wanted a resolution, which passed the Senate 77 to 23. Then, they demanded that President Bush seek the blessings of the UN Security Council. After Resolution 1441 passed unanimously, Senator Kennedy stated that this is the "wrong war at the wrong time. The threat from Iraq is not imminent and it would distract America from the two more immediate threats to our security ... terrorism and the crisis with North Korea." For his part, Daschle pooh-pooh's the President's desire to go it alone, implying that our European Allies weren't behind us on this one. However, today's letter in The Times of London effectively squashed that argument. The last shred of respectability for the policy of appeasement were a truculent France and Germany saying that they would not support us should the UN verification process ultimately uncover that Saddam Hussien is in violation of UN Resolution 1441. Apparently, Daschle thinks the Iraqis voluntarily disarmed years ago and is keeping the news a secret. Following the SOTU speeach, Sen. Daschle is quoted as saying "I don't think the administration has presented adequate, convincing evidence to say that [Iraq] can produce weapons to share with terrorist."

A journalist present asked him to clarify.

"You don't think Saddam disarmed unilaterally, do you?" the journalist asked.

"We don't have any concrete evidence that he has not," Daschle replied. "And that's the issue."

And now we have the French-Syrian axis. Lovely.

Since that the anti-war left has been embraced by the likes of Syria, I think they are done for in the minds of the average American. And I'd be willing to bet that when the tanks roll, and Iraq is liberated, we find that France and Germany are waist deep in illegal trade with the butcher of Baghdad. And Sen. Daschle will be looking for another job.

30 Jan 03 dpny