Our War With France (Friedman's Latest From The Padded Room)

It's time we Americans came to terms with something: France is not just our annoying ally. It is not just our jealous rival. France is becoming our enemy.

If you add up how France behaved in the run-up to the Iraq war (making it impossible for the Security Council to put a real ultimatum to Saddam Hussein that might have avoided a war), and if you look at how France behaved during the war (when its foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, refused to answer the question of whether he wanted Saddam or America to win in Iraq), and if you watch how France is behaving today (demanding some kind of loopy symbolic transfer of Iraqi sovereignty to some kind of hastily thrown together Iraqi provisional government, with the rest of Iraq's transition to democracy to be overseen more by a divided U.N. than by America), then there is only one conclusion one can draw: France wants America to fail in Iraq.

http://nytimes.com/2003/09/18/opinion/18FRIE.html

I know, he could have added the stuff about how the French tried what the U.S. was doing in places like Algeria, with little to show for it except for Islamic fanaticism, but we don't want to disrupt his quaint little world, do we?

another attempt by the Bush administration and their shills to avert blame from themselves. It's the French damnit! They're the ones to blame for this debacle, those damn cheese eating, surrender monkies. Yep, the grownups are in charge. :eyes:

It's not getting them to help out with Iraq any faster

Sounded like he was agreeing with you, but opting to do so facetiously.

L-

The statement was directed at Tom Friedman, but it was too late at night, so I was too lazy to give more clarifications :spank:

(BULLSHIT!)

He can't really be this dumb.. can he?

Friedman really is reaching in deep on this one to try and spin things away.

L-

He trots out the "terrorists will be emboldened" argument, which
again, is the idea that we have been stupid and we must keep on being
stupid because otherwise others will figure out that we are stupid.

The fact is that France can defend itself far better from the
terrorists if it keeps its troops at home and avoids getting into
the mess we have created in Iraq.

He neglects to remember that it is we who decided France was the
enemy, not the French, and it Shrub who is their enemy, not the
USA.

But why go on.