[TopQuark]

Let's see if I've got this straight: TotalFinaElf's largest shareholder is a subsidiary of Montreal's Power Corp, whose co-chief executive is Jean Chrétien's son-in-law, Andre Desmarais. Mr. Desmarais' brother, Paul Desmarais Jr., sits on the Total board.

These people accused us of war for oil.

As you can see, it is they who were waging the appeasement-for-oil campaign.

[PoisedWoman]

Instead, it turns out that, if it is all about oil, then the principal North American beneficiary of the continued enslavement of the Iraqi people is the family of the Canadian Prime Minister --

Aha! I hope this gets wide circulation on the Net, as the media will never report it.

[Porterville]

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[NorthernRight]

PING!

Please forward to your Mark Steyn Ping-lists.

Mark Steyn's website:    

[Aric2000]

You beat Pokey, man, what a concept!!

[Dog Gone]

Well, that explains it.

[Loyalist]

Who would have thought that a war in Iraq would irreparably break the alliance between the Anglosphere and France?

Moreover, it has now demonstrated that the gap between political attitudes in Quebec and English Canada is, once and forever, uncloseable.

Had it not been for the people and politicians of Quebec, the Canadian government might at have at least offered moral support to the war effort.

[xJones]

The Western oil company with the closest ties to the late Saddam is France's TotalFinaElf.

Excellent, and Chrétien 's son-in-law has a brother on the board of directors. This is all about oil - to the French, both in France and Canada. Hold their feet to the fire.

[Billthedrill]

I hate to keep saying this, but this one may be Steyn's best column. Baghdad Bob working for Chetien's publicity department was hysterical, but the last couple of paragraphs were dynamite, and I don't mean "funny."

[Tax-chick]

the principal North American beneficiary of the continued enslavement of the Iraqi people is the family of the Canadian Prime Minister -- that's to say, his daughter, France Chrétien, and his grandchildren.

These people should be given an all-expenses-paid trip to Baghdad, with plenty of advance publicity so that the FREE Iraqis know exactly who they are!

[caisson71]

I love the French language, spoken in English!

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for finding and posting this.

The Western oil company with the closest ties to the late Saddam is France's TotalFinaElf. That's not the curious fact, that's just business as usual in the Fifth Republic. This is the curious fact: As Diane wrote in February and again last week, "Total's biggest shareholder is Montreal's Paul Desmarais, whose youngest son is married to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's daughter."

Let's see if I've got this straight: TotalFinaElf's largest shareholder is a subsidiary of Montreal's Power Corp, whose co-chief executive is Jean Chrétien's son-in-law, Andre Desmarais. Mr. Desmarais' brother, Paul Desmarais Jr., sits on the Total board.

For months, the anti-war crowd has insisted that "it's all about oil," that the only reason the Iraqi people were being "liberated" was so that the second biggest oil reserves in the world could be annexed in perpetuity by Dick Cheney and Halliburton and the rest of Bush's Texas oilpatch gang. Instead, it turns out that, if it is all about oil, then the principal North American beneficiary of the continued enslavement of the Iraqi people is the family of the Canadian Prime Minister -- that's to say, his daughter, France Chrétien, and his grandchildren.

I have the feeling that one of these days we will find massive donations from TotalFinaElf and its subsidiaries to the Water Melon Green Jihadists and their pet politicians to make America and the World more dependent on Opecker/Elf oil.

[LibertarianLiz]

A great Mark Steyn column, with a nice twist of the knife at the end.

[dead]

Bump! Great dirt digging.

[Allan]

Bump

[alnitak]

All three men seem imprisoned by their pasts -- Chirac the seedy fixer, Schroeder the Sixties peacenik, Putin the KGB hardman.

This sentence is the jewel in the crown! What a perfect summing up.

[wayoverontheright]

It's nice to have the choices put so plainly: on the one hand, the Coalition of the Willing; on the other, the Coalition of the Willing To Go On Selling Saddam Nuclear Reactors In Exchange For Oil Concessions For Another Decade Or Three No Matter How Many People He Kills.

LOL. A classic!!

[Forgiven_Sinner]

Mark Steyn: a weapon of mass destruction of liberal fallacies.

Where to start?

"Oh dear. I'm afraid I'd caught in a quagmire of gloating."

Yep. Me too. Let's stay there.


"Meanwhile, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, . . . I knew he was doomed when he started talking like a Liberal backbencher."

When Saddam's supporters sound less risible than liberal opponents, you know you're doing something good.

"It's surely only a matter of time before he's hired as Chrétien's press officer. "These are all lies that the Americans are annoyed with Canada! The whole world knows Washington is terrified of our great leader and quakes before his heroic display of principles and sovereignty! America is our best friend and neighbour and if they dare say otherwise we will crush them like the Zionist tools they are! The 49th parallel is littered with the burnt-out shells of their tanks, those bastards!"

I can easily picture this.

"My favourite vignette from yesterday? The sack of the UN HQ in Baghdad. Hey, Jacques, with all those missing filing cabinets, we're gonna have to give inspections even longer to work."

Here he errs. The REAL inspectors ARE at work.


"So tomorrow's meeting of the Coalition of the Irrelevant will be of interest only for students of the terminal stages of M. Chirac's Gallic hauteur. "

Another smart bomb detonates. No collateral damage, target destroyed.


"And Canada? We voted French, finally and decisively, and in defiance of our own history. Indeed, at times M. Chrétien was plus Chirac que Chirac. With exquisite timing, the Prime Minister waited till after the Americans had won before announcing he wanted the Americans to win."

When the funniest lines are mere descriptions of reality, you know you have found a true humorist.
Well, this whole quagmire seems to be getting worse, eh? I see the Yanks have now been reduced to staging fake scenes of supposed jubilation on the alleged streets of what the Pentagon assures us is Baghdad. If you pause the video, you'll see the guy on the right jumping up and down thwacking his shoe on the head of Saddam's toppled statue is actually Richard Perle disguised as an Iraqi cab driver and the woman standing next to him ululating "Blessings be upon you, o great Bush" is David Frum in a chador.

[LiberationIT]

Oh, gotta bump.