[dangus]

DeGaulle's heroism was a fiction of Eisenhower's and Roosevelt's need to create a national hero so France could appear to be "liberated" by Americans, rather than "occupied," as they keep saying about Iraq. The difference, of course, between 1944 France and 2002 Iraq? The Iraqis opposed Hussein; DeGaulle and the French admired Hitler.

[Iris7]

What you say is true enough.

I would not say that "the French admired Hitler" though. Maybe "the French thought Hitler was cool" or a "heavy duty dude".

Certainly Hitler was pretty universally seen as "one bad assed MoFo" (in the, say, "ghetto" way). A guy who knew what he wanted and got it over the death of whoever. Stalin was admired in the same way in this country and nearly worshiped in France for the same reason.

I suppose I could be accused of a "revisionist" view of 20th Century history! ;-)