(2006-03-06) — Sen. John Kerry, D-MA, in a landmark speech Sunday on the global dynamics of terrorism, said a ’strong United Nations’, working with ‘moderate Muslim leaders’ could save the world from terrorism if the West stops propping up Arab kingdoms by purchasing oil.

The senator proposed putting the French in charge of U.N. military operations, appointing a member of the Hamas Palestinian government to head the U.N. Human Rights Council, and “transitioning the Arab Middle East from an oil economy to an agricultural one, where lush, green acres replace the sand stretching out so far and wide.”

“Some say that terms like a ’strong U.N.’ and ‘moderate Muslim leaders’ are oxymorons,” said Sen. Kerry. “But that’s what they said about Democrat principles, liberal values and progressive think-tanks.”

Mr. Kerry, the presumptive runner-up for the 2008 Democrat presidential nomination, proposed that the United States take the lead in funding his Arab agriculture initiative, dubbed “Food for Oil,” which promises to “beat drill bits into plowshares.”