[Friend of thunder]

if the French had defended Paris with the kind of vigor with which chIRAQ is defending Saddam Hussein, France might actually have been able to maintain its prominence as a world power

How true. Does it strike you as ironic that the countries that gave us Napoleon, Hitler, and Stalin, are lecturing us on our bellicosity?

[potlatch]

It's easy to argue and fingerpoint [especially if you have things to hide], but it would have taken real 'effort' to stand up to Hitler! Thus, it was easy to hold up two hands, or a white flag.....