Posted on 05/24/2010 1:16:40 PM PDT by Schnucki
Dennis Blair stepped down as America's director of national intelligence last Thursday after his call for undercover operations to be halted was ignored.
The proposed pact was overruled by Mr Obama who had concerns that France could elect a future president who undermined America foreign policy.
When Mr Blair resigned last week, his departure was attributed to the failure of the 16 government agencies he ran to prevent the failed Christmas Day terrorist plane bombing in Detroit. A Nigerian man managed to board a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit with explosives hidden in his underwear despite warnings that he posed a security threat.
However, it has now emerged that there was also a major disagreement over plans for a mutual no-spying pact between the US and France.
Mr Blair had argued that the pro-US stance of Nicolas Sarkozy should be seized upon to end decades of espionage between the two countries.
Mr Sarkozy, whose Atlanticism earned him the nickname Sarko l'Américain back home, last year returned France to full Nato membership 60 years after Charles de Gaulle pulled the country out – a highly symbolic rapprochement with America.
Mr Blair proposed an unprecedented written pledge even more binding than the post-war "gentlemen's agreement" between the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as trusted partners who do not spy on each other. The deal would also have given France access to a highly secure intelligence retrieval and exchange system.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Ping.
“Obama who had concerns that France could elect a future president who undermined America foreign policy.”
Isn’t it amazing who this man, who bows to and embraces despots and dictators, perceives as America’s enemies?
Obviously CYA from the White House.
This is actually pretty funny.
One asshole not trusting another.
Obama wouldn’t want any competition because if he were to be upstaged by any Frenchman’s anti Americanism then he would surly be the laughing stock of leftists.
to be honest Sarkozy aside the French have not exactly been the best “friends” we could hope for
De Gaulle was a pain and an ungrateful one at that
Chirac a corrupt pain who delighted in forging relationships with Iran and Russia at our expense
Mitterand a royal pain
Zer0 is just pissed that Mrs. Sarkozy is hot vs. FWOTUS.
This has very little to do with Obama. The truth is that the French have been amazingly obnoxious in past, especially under Chirac, who was obsessed with tearing America down several notches, to be utterly thwarted by W. Bush at every turn.
One of the things they did was to conduct a full scale industrial espionage campaign against US businessmen flying to and from France: copying their computer hard drives, photographing the contents of briefcases. Very aggressive stuff. A lot of this peaked with the Airbus vs. Boeing fight, France backdoor dealings with Saddam, and a bunch of other very seamy campaigns.
And while the both countries had strict rules
It's not outside the realm of possibility that a conservative France would need to keep eye on a leftist America. Just say in...
Surprised that Barry is thinking that far ahead.
I guess Blair is announcing the real problem and Bambi is trying to cover up the fact that the only program he wouldn´t accept from the French is a pro-American one. Sarkozy has been relatively pro-American, and Obama doesn´t like it.
“Mr Obama who had concerns that France could elect a future president who undermined America foreign policy.”
“Surprised that Barry is thinking that far ahead.”
Well, one would think that if this were a serious concern, the first president whose harmful conduct should be examined is Obama’s own. Apart from the hypocrisy of the pot calling the kettle black, it seems more likely this is a conscious attempt at diverting attention away from Obama’s behavior rather than a genuine effort to make us safer.
I recall reading someplace that France was actually one of the top 5 perpetrators of espionnage against the U.S. Primarily industrial espionnage. (and I think the reports all referred to them as “Country A” so as to avoid offending them)
“a conservative France”
My point exactly-”who Obama perceives as our enemies”. Obama despises democracies, and if you throw in religion (other than Islam, whom he’s afraid of) he’s especially hostile, i.e., Poland and Israel.
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