Responding to a question following his big speech, Howard Dean declared, “Had the United Nations given us permission and asked us to be a part of a multilateral force, I would not have hesitated to go into Iraq.”

I have seen similar sentiments from many others on the Left.

Of course, by "United Nations," we really mean France, Germany and Russia. Especially France, which pretty much shot us down in the U.N.

What this boils down to is that if we had just been blessed by France and Germany, than all the awful things we did in Iraq that the Left has been screaming about for months would suddenly be okay. This is a bizarre worldview that I can't understand. It is related to the incomprehensible liberal fantasy that if only France were in Iraq right now, properly "internationalizing" our effort, all would be well, nobody would be getting hurt, and the recovery of that nation would be well on its way.

Is there like a France-worship cult that I have missed? I understand that you don't have to scratch a lot of leftists very deeply to find someone who thinks that Europe is the shining light of how nations ought to be run.

"Multinational" and "international" have been redefined as only those efforts that include France. "Unilateral" has been redefined as any effort by other nations that does NOT include France. This is, to put it mildly, nuts.

The French are with us! The bombing is now Good Bombing! The Iraqi civilian dead are now acceptable casualties! The fall of Saddam has now been sanctified by the Left! All has changed! This reminds me of those crusaders who got absolved by the Church against any atrocities they may commit in the recovery of the Holy Land. Sure, most of the troops and weapons would still have been American. But a little Holy Water from the French and wow! We aren't imperialist bastards any more!

Tell me, Howard. What exactly would make the invasion of Iraq a good idea simply because France and Germany liked it, but a crappy idea if only Britain, Italy, Japan, Australia, Spain, and all the other coalition countries supported it?

Senator Joh Cornyn has his own comments on this concept.