Dinner With A Frenchman.....

I had the extraordinary opportunity to have dinner last night with a dozen or so UN employees at an expensive mediocre Middle-eastern restaurant in Geneva last night.

Inevitably, the topic of discussion turned to Iraq and the Frenchman said 'Of course Iraq is a failure and that Bush lied, people died.'

I asked him how was it the rest of the world agreed with Bushes position and he argued that Bush fooled them all, implying that he alone was at the nexus of gigantic conspiracy to fool the world on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Bush must be a mad genius, then I think!

Then, of course I asked about this...

February 17, 1998: "If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program." - President Bill Clinton

and asked him about the US strike on Iraq, code named Operation Desert Fox.

December 16, 1998: The United States and Great Britain begin a four-day air campaign against targets in Iraq, Operation Desert Fox. The stated mission: "to strike military and security targets in Iraq that contribute to Iraq's ability to produce, store, maintain and deliver weapons of mass destruction." UNSCOM withdraws its staff from Iraq.

A full 1998 time-line is here. All of this, of course, resulted in blank stares since none of the previous problems with Iraq, that led to many of the conclusions proffered by GWB are discussed, mentioned or digested in the press, today. The press is not reporting on a war or providing information to the public for digestion, they are putting forth a agenda and this is one that is anti-GWB and anti-Republican. That which is contrary to this position is ignored and overlooked.

This leads to easy conclusions like the French UN employee that I chatted with last night, parroting the American Democrats talking points of "Bush lied, people died" and Iraq is a failure and quagmire. The press is doing the world a great disservice through their biased and incomplete reporting. Its really ashame that they are throwing away the trust of some of the people to pursue their narrow political agenda.