Knight for a Rook? The release of the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) report looks to the WaPo to be substantially undermining Bush: "U.S. 'Almost All Wrong' on Weapons" subhead: "Report on Iraq Contradicts Bush Administration Claims." Also reported on the front page, albeit minimized is Hussein Used Oil to Dilute Sanctions, subhead: Report Says He Gave Valuable Vouchers to Those Who Helped Iraq.

Does this hurt Bush? Yes, without question.

However, the better question is Whether this hurts Kerry more than it does Bush? The answer to that is also yes.

Both Bush and Kerry have admitted to relying on intelligence related to the weapons in question in authorizing war. Was this intel wrong? Possibly -- we do know that he had had those weapons and had used them against his own people. There was not a full scale review after the first Gulf War -- if you want to blame anyone, you can blame Bush41, Powell, and Cheney.

Nevertheless, don't forget that what the UN resolutions did was to put the burden on Hussein to account for his WMD, and the equipment used to make them, and to destroy them in a verifiable manner. Hussein refused to do so.

What separates Kerry from Bush is the issue of appeasing Old Europe. Bush tried diplomacy and tried to build a coalition involving France and Germany. We now know for certain that this was impossible because France and Germany were part of the Battalion of the Bribed. Bribed by Hussein.

By continuing to embrace the Battalion of the Bribed, Kerry loses more than Bush does.

Bush is hurt -- in the chess game, he loses a knight; however, Kerry loses a rook.