[Pharmboy]

...and in a related story, a major earthquake was felt in France today as more than 53,000 American dead who gave their lives to free France in two world wars and are buried in that country turned over in their graves.

[canuck_conservative]

The only mistake the US and Britain made was in assuming that France was dealing with them in good faith.

It's a mistake that won't be repeated, I'll be willing to bet.

[Catspaw]

"The Americans made a triple mistake: first of all a moral mistake, and I think we have to say this: there was an alternative to war. We could have disarmed Iraq differently."

And that would be to sell the Iraqis spare parts for their Mirages, right?

[dighton]

Crowds flock to see French imitating pigs

[Torie]

"And then, there is a strategic mistake: that today one country can lead the world," he said, arguing that Europe should be one of the major poles of influence in the world.

I didn't know the UK was not in Europe. If Europe = France + Germany, in order to be a "major pole" they need to get their economies out of a stall, and develop a military that actually is something other than a welfarist job program. In short, no pain, no gain, and pain is simply out of style these days in Paris and Berlin, except to the extent to the extent of inflicting it on Bush/Blair through rhetoric. So far, however pain export plan has proven rather inert.

[Drango]

Iraq first, France next...

[Radix]

I am sure glad that the French are here to instruct the USA on the rules of morality, politics, and strategy.

They are such effing experts.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

America to France: Bite me.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

America to France: Bite me.

[DannyTN]

France is the one that made the triple mistake...

1) Moral: They backed leaving a ruthless dictator with a known penchant for terrorism and WMD in power. Nothing justifies that. Regime change was needed not inspections.

2) Political: The Mideast is a powder keg because regimes like Saddam's have been allowed to foster terrorism and spread propaganda against the west and Israel formenting hatred. France's paralysis in the face of conflict is a serious character flaw which has had severe repercusions for France and the effectiveness of the organizations such as the UN and NATO in which France has played a major role

3) Strategic: One nation is leading the world. The US is leading a coalition that by last count I believe was at 49. That coalition included most of Europe but not France and Germany. France thought they could lead the world but all they did was delay and get in the way.

[Boundless]

> We see how serious the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is,

Not.

> ... and at any moment it can set the world ablaze. It's
> a serious political error to start trouble in this region.

The present conflict has just given lie to the "tinderbox
hypothesis", for a couple of reasons:

a. We're taking over an Arab country, and the region is NOT ablaze.

b. We've just demonstrated that in any future wars, the bombing
starts at the top and works it's way down. None of the other
regional thugs have anything like Saddam's network of bunkers.
Even if Saddam survived the Day0 opportunity, the other rulers
know that they would not.

[ambrose]

[rolling_stone]

France sounds just like a yappin french poodle nipping at its masters ankles all it does is make some noise and if it doesn't shut up soon it will get kicked straight across the room to run and hide as always...

[JoJo Gunn]

Dear Prime Minstrel Ratferal:

As far as I'm concerned, America shouldn't give you the sweat off our....

[Taffini]

The French are INSANE

[Drango]

It's wrong to be French.

[conservativecorner]

[Wyatt's Torch]

Just watched Frontline entitled "Blair's War" about the PM attempting to bridge the gap between the Bush Doctrine and the Europeans who now believe that there is no legitimate reason for the use of military action. Actually a fascinating piece. The piece atempted to show that the US will begin to decline as a power. The reason behind this though was that the US respect would decline "in the eyes of the world". The point they missed was, we don't care. The Bush Doctrine of pre-emption to ensure our security, as a direct result of attacks on our soil, has and will fundamentally change the face of the world. Leadership takes courage of conviction to do the right thing no matter what the consequences. The Europeans have never understood this concept. Their "go along to get along" attitude has launced the two greatest war in world history as well as launching two of the most murderous and evil regime's in history. The US and Great Brittain are now saying, we will not let this happen again. Looking back in history, I wonder if the French would like to retroactively apply the Bush Doctrine of pre-emption to Hitler Germany in 1936?

9/11, George W. Bush and Tony Blair have fundamentally changed the state of the world and how to deal with potential threats. Thank God for them.

[laz17]

FRANCE=THE FEDAYEEN CHIRAC

[skr]

French morality, politics and strategy...oxymorons all.

[dogbyte12]

Ok... just suppose that in 12 more years of inspections, the UN takes away the SCUDS, the VX, the Sarin, etc... what exactly are the Iraqi people doing during this time?

Living under more sanctions? Worrying about some of Uday's henchmen knocking on their doors? Screw that. Screw the french too while I am at it.