Treading in Presidential Shoes: Who Would Obama or Clinton Ally With?

Barack Obama suggests that Australia should add to the 1400 Australian troops already in Iraq. This in response to Australian Prime Minister, John Howard's, opposition of Obama's plan to remove U.S. troops from Iraq by Spring 2008.

Obama's cheeky response smacks of the typical Left no-substance retort, ignoring the fact that Australia is an ally who has stepped-up to protect the backside of the likes of all the American Obama's in the world. If Obama has illusions of taking the Presidency, withdrawing U.S. troops and serving his term in a country void of Islamic conflict, then he lives in a fantasy world.

However, if he believes he may be Commander and Chief of a country under siege, he needs to review recent history, because it is likely, once again, that the UK and Australia will be the only countries to come to our aid, and even that is a doubtful scenario, given the lack of support some Americans have shown.

As Obama and both Democrat and Republican Presidential candidates lay-out their ideas, they will do well to put themselves in the current President’s shoes because chances are they will be forced to walk more than a mile in them. The question is: how will they walk?...toward freedom and liberty and being a force for good in the world, or....

And, what happens when France has their 9/11 moment, or Germany or Russia. As the next American President, who will Obama or Clinton choose to ally with? Prime Minister Howard had this to say: "You either rat on the ally or you stay with the ally.” Well, isn’t that the truth, and it brings to mind why the U.S. is today, fighting for our very way of life, without our once-upon-a-time ally, France, and we won’t even mention that was when they desperately needed us.

Here are a few reminders of the corrupt motivations and deeds of the French as they stalled any measures in the U.N. that would bring about productive actions against Saddam Hussein, and in support of the Iraqi people:

1) France wanted Iraqi oil, needed Iraqi oil - sold the soul of their country for Iraqi oil.

2) France was one of two countries most implicit in the Oil-for-Food scandal, receiving huge kickbacks, and consequently, supporting Saddam's abuse of the Iraqi people. Oil-for-Food money was also used to pay the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, taking the lives of countless Israelis - abuses spanned the world.

This Washington Times Editorial, dated February 11, 2003, lays down the bones:

“...there was never a serious possibility of getting Security Council support from for military action because influential people in Russia and France were getting paid off by Saddam. After the fall of Baghdad..., France and Russia tried to delay the lifting of sanctions against Iraq and continue the Oil for Food program. That's because France and Russia profited from it:

The Times of London calculated that French and Russian companies received $11 billion worth of business from Oil for Food between 1996 and 2003.

Most disturbing are Iraqi records that suggest Benon Sevan, the executive director of the Oil for Food office, received a voucher for 11.5 million barrels of oil from Saddam's manipulation of the program — enough to yield a profit of between $575,000 and $3.5 million.

The beneficiary list (found in the archives of the Iraqi Oil Ministry and translated into English by the Middle East Media Research Institute) should be deeply embarrassing to many prominent people.

In the United States, those listed include Iraqi American businessman Shaker Al-Khaffaji, who put up $400,000 to produce a film by ex-U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter, which aimed to discredit weapons inspections in Iraq.

Also, British Labor MP George Galloway, a strident foe of taking action against Saddam, is listed as a recipient or co-recipient of 19.5 million barrels.

Other recipients include: former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua (12 million barrels); Patrick Maugein, CEO of the oil company Soco International and financial backer of French President Jacques Chirac (25 million); former French Ambassador to the United Nations Jean-Bernard Merimee (11 million); Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri (10 million); and Syrian businessman Farras Mustafa Tlass, the son of longtime Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass (6 million). Leith Shbeilat, chairman of the anti-corruption committee of the Jordanian Parliament, received 15.5 million.

Note: Some paragraphing of the above Washington Times Editorial is mine to make for easier reading.

3) France had a decade-old program for selling large stockpiles of conventional weapons to Saddam and it is speculated that some of these weapons could be converted to biological or chemical weapons of mass destruction.

4) Iraq was shooting at U.S. pilots over the no-fly zone. The world didn't care. As we protected the borders of others, to keep Saddam out of the places of others (where he wasn't wanted), Iraq put our pilots at risk, with foreign-made missiles (some thought to be French-made).

5) France got lucky. America didn't have the stomach to push forward with accusations of their illicit behaviors because of their status as a UN Security Council member

6) France has an unsettled Muslim community to deal with. I gave up my Boursin, Brie and my favorite French jug wine years ago. It was a pleasure to do so.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will both do well to realize that any presidential shoes they don will tread among the unscrupulous, the lying and cheating and the evilly devious.