Saddam Suck-Up Watch

Arnaud de Douchebag Borchgrave, the unnaturally tan Moonie stooge and author of one of the worst novels ever written, promised to deliver the Republican Party to Saddam Hussein.

Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor at large of the Washington Times and United Press International, was determined to land an interview with Saddam Hussein.

So determined, in fact, that he told the Iraqi leader 2 1/2 years ago he hoped such a sit-down "would lead to a reappraisal of American policy toward Iraq."

The veteran foreign correspondent also used an Egyptian arms dealer as a conduit to pass copies of his articles to Hussein's government in hopes of winning the interview.

In a Jan. 11, 2001, "Your Excellency" letter -- recently retrieved from Iraqi intelligence files -- de Borchgrave said he could "guarantee" that an interview with him "will have worldwide resonance as well as two entire newspaper pages in The Washington Times, the newspaper of choice of the Republican establishment."

All that sucking up to the Reverend Moon was good practice indeed.

Arnie's intermediary was "Fakhry Arnin Abdelnour, a Geneva-based Egyptian arms merchant who was working on deals with Hussein's government for tank engines and helicopters." And Arnie presented himself to Saddam as pro-terrorist to land the interview:

In the accompanying column [sent to Saddam's intermediary by Abdelnour], de Borchgrave wrote that U.S. aid to Israel should be conditioned on the creation of a Palestinian state and that "to blame Palestinian terrorism as the fount of all evil reflects a failure to understand what terrorism is all about. It is the weapon of the weak against the powerful."

More proof that the Moonie Times hates America.