The Fire in France

Readers of my previous columns, especially those written since 9/11/01, have sometimes assumed that I don't like France. This would be an over-simplification. Like many Frenchmen, I should think, I am aware of more than one France, and tend to prefer one to another. To my Western, Christian, Catholic mind, a Europe without France is like a bicycle without a chain -- France has contributed so much to the velocity of our civilization. (Now, a Europe without Italy, on this analogy, would be like a chain without the bicycle.) There have been, for lo these last dozen or so generations, however, at least two Frances. One is the France of the Enlightenment and the Revolution, which seems to have triumphed to every outward effect, in its rebellion against God and his clerics. The other is the France of Charles Martel, and the greatest Gothic cathedrals, still pulsing in some leonine rural hearts, or even in the remembered wheeze of the odd sick, symbolist poet. I despise Revolutionary France, which reinvents itself in every generation, most recently as the final paradise of sophisticated consumerism. I despised the cheap romanticism that subverted the poet's symbols. But the old Catholic France is the apple of my eye.

France is even more screwed than we think. They can't fight back hard against these rioters. If Muslims die at the hands of the French police/troops on national TV other Muslims around the world will start attacking French assets.

Exactly so. This is why our government is correct in taking such a hard line. Brutal regimes and barbarians are never appeased for long. Any sign of weakness invites attack. Look at the barbarian hordes that took down Rome. Or Chamberlain trying to appease Hitler.

One of the reasons we haven't been attacked again is the character of America. A lot of people are willing to be very aggressive personally. The citizens here are far more dangerous to terrorists than Europeans would be. And our government is carrying the fight to their own lands (Iraq). Now you might debate whether Iraq is the right target instead of Iran and Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. But we have shown that we are willing to inflict serious damage on our enemies.

By comparison, France is the only western nation that has ever lost to a Muslim nation in modern times.

Our president recently indicated that one of the reasons we were attacked is because his predecessors (Clinton primarily) had reacted too weakly or ineffectively and that had encouraged Bin Laden to think of us a candidates for dhimmitude. And he was right about it.

Clinton wasn't only our first black president. He was also our first French president.

From what I've read, the Mudslimes had pretty much gained total control of the various suburbs involved in the rioting, to the point that the French police wouldn't even enter those places to enforce French law. In other words, they were in the process of creating an armed state within a state where French law didn't apply. When the initial contingent of riot police entered this whole development was challenged. Hence, the riots appear to be a deliberately planned effort to exclude the French authorities and French law from a large part of France. The same thing could happen here. Much as I dislike the Frogs, I hope for their sake and ours that they have the guts to impose martial law on all the rioting suburbs.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.