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Barack Obama rejects Normandy trip to avoid offending Germany
Telegraph.co.uk ^ | April 2, 2009 | Toby Harnden, US Editor, and Henry Samuel in Paris

Posted on 04/06/2009 4:20:18 PM PDT by CitizenM

Barack Obama, concerned about offending Britain and Germany, rebuffed strenuous attempts by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France to persuade the new American president to make a trip to Normandy this week.

White House officials travelled to France at the start of March to discuss a visit by Mr Obama to Omaha Beach, the site of the American Cemetery, established in 1944 just after D-Day and where 9,387 American personnel are buried. Among them is Theodore Roosevelt Jr the eldest son of the 26th US President.

French officials and senior American military officers walked with White House staff through the cemetery discussing how the two presidents might follow the same route. But even before their trip, the White House had decided that Mr Obama would not travel there this week.

"It wasn't going to happen," said an American official in Washington. "We went through the motions to placate President Sarkozy but giving special treatment to France was not on our agenda.

"During this trip, we wanted to maintain a balance between the British, German and France". A White House spokesman in London declined to comment. Last month, White House officials briefed that a Normandy visit had been considered but it had not been logistically possible.

Mr Sarkozy is said by French officials to be piqued that Gordon Brown became the first European leader to meet Mr Obama and was then lavished with praise by him at a 50-minute joint press conference in London on Wednesday.

----snip----

According to French reports, Mr Obama was to visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial at Colleville-sur-mer, just north of Omaha Beach. The pair were apparently to have dined at the nearby chateau de Bénouville in Caen.

The White House rejected the offer....(see rest of story)

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: antiamericanism; antimilitary; disgrace; military; normandy; obama; obamagaffes; veterans
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To: libs_kma

Thank you very much!


101 posted on 04/06/2009 5:52:54 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance." ~Sam Brown)
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To: thestob

for later


102 posted on 04/06/2009 5:57:06 PM PDT by thestob (Vote or P. Diddy will kill you)
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To: HereInTheHeartland
"I see these headlines and assume they are satire."

You got that right! I swear that every time I click on a story about Obama here on FR, I read a few sentences and wonder, Is this the Onion or some satire piece? Sadly it is not and this complete CLOWN Obama is actually this bad! I have come to the conclusion that Obama is actively and intensely trying to destroy this country, this is WAY more than being naive and ignorant---it is on purpose.
103 posted on 04/06/2009 5:57:25 PM PDT by scott says (Barack ODRAMA--the politics of Fear and Loathing)
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To: CitizenM

In the 80’s I was a part of the Airborne Battalion Combat Team stationed at Vicenza Italy. We jumped into a field near Omaha beach as part of a D-Day ceremony. I cannot speak about the French population as a whole ,but the people in and around that area love America and Americans. Forever etched in my mind is the picture of the little girl who handed me some flowers she had picked as I departed the drop zone. She was with someone who I would guess was her grandfather and when I shook hands with him I noticed that he was crying. We did not say a word to each other, but the look of gratitude in his eyes told me more than anywords could about his feelings for America. Whenever I get down about the direction our country is going I recall that moment in that field far from home. Though the media may paint most of the world as being America haters, I know nothing could be farther from the truth. There are good people like the ones I met that week I spent in France that know what the world would be like if America becomes just another country in the world. That should make us all proud to be Americans.


104 posted on 04/06/2009 5:57:47 PM PDT by Steel Bill
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To: BIV
You are absolutely right right. Liberals want to only satisfy those who voted for them and those who voted against them can go to hell. Although without the tax money of those who voted against them they cannot give government handouts and welfare to a majority of the people who vote for them and hence they could not win elections. It is the one of the biggest paradox in existence.
105 posted on 04/06/2009 5:58:29 PM PDT by jveritas (God Bless our brave troops)
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To: Tax-chick
A great book is The Few by Alex Kershaw.

The story of several American flyers that went to fight in the Battle of Britain. An amazing page turner.

106 posted on 04/06/2009 5:58:43 PM PDT by Northern Yankee (Freedom Needs A Soldier)
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To: Oztrich Boy
Memo to all governments: The Obama regime cannot be trusted in negotiations.

They know this already.

107 posted on 04/06/2009 5:59:40 PM PDT by jveritas (God Bless our brave troops)
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To: CitizenM

If Obama refused to visit Normandy for fear of upsetting Germans,
then who was he afraid of upsetting if he visited American wounded at Landstuhl ??
The obvious and logical answer is Muslims.
And a lot of Democrats.
Obama was on his I Hate America Tour and wouldn’t dream of showing respect to our military, fallen and wounded.
He’s not a POS-he’s the entire thing.


108 posted on 04/06/2009 6:00:15 PM PDT by Wild Irish Rogue
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To: CitizenM
Why is it any surprise that barak wouldn't honor American heros?
Look how he treated his own mother and white grandmother.

I am glad that he didn't go. May those soldiers rest in peace. They won't need to turn in their graves.

This European trip has been so revealing about his character, and lack of it. This pres_ent has no heart. He's not human.

109 posted on 04/06/2009 6:02:20 PM PDT by 1_Rain_Drop
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To: CitizenM
In the name of keeping things equal between France, Germany, and England?

Normandy was a trifecta.

We launched Normandy with the aid of our traditional allies, England. Remind them of this.

We launched Normandy to aid the frequently ungrateful benefactor of our military power, France. Remind them of this.

We launched Normandy upon a people of whom it is noted “they are either at your feet or at your throat”, in order to crush their imperial aspirations. Remind them of this.

What an incompetent team that is leading this incompetent President.

110 posted on 04/06/2009 6:05:17 PM PDT by allmendream ("Wealth is EARNED not distributed, so how could it be redistributed?")
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To: Northern Yankee

Thanks! I’ll try my library catalog.


111 posted on 04/06/2009 6:05:18 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance." ~Sam Brown)
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To: Steel Bill
My daughter was in France a few years ago. She had a similar experience. She and some of her classmates were going to school there at the University of Caen. They traveled over to the beaches of Normandy. They went into the cemetery. While in there they saw some young kids being unruly. They chastised them for their behavior, and the kids left.

My daughter saw an elderly French woman. She came up to my daughter and asked, with tears in her eyes, "Are you an American?" My daughter answered, "yes!"

The woman gave her a hug, and thanked her for America's help during the war.

They both had tears in their eyes when they were finished talking.

112 posted on 04/06/2009 6:06:44 PM PDT by Northern Yankee (Freedom Needs A Soldier)
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To: Tax-chick

Thank you, FRiend.


113 posted on 04/06/2009 6:06:57 PM PDT by patriot08
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To: Always Right

Michelle - Splaylegged.
That is some funny S***.


114 posted on 04/06/2009 6:07:58 PM PDT by NowApproachingMidnight (Sell the left short this cycle.)
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To: Marathoner

The one white guy who appeared to be in his late 50s that I heard on television said,”I voted for him [obama] so that I could retire.”

In the interest of not geting banned I will refrain from further comment.


115 posted on 04/06/2009 6:09:50 PM PDT by sport
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To: patriot08

You’re welcome. Help yourself to a Guinness to drink to our soldiers, living and dead.


116 posted on 04/06/2009 6:10:51 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance." ~Sam Brown)
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To: autumnraine

He such a POS.

Words fail me.


117 posted on 04/06/2009 6:12:28 PM PDT by Shyla
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To: Tax-chick

What a damn downward turn our country went.

Damn him.


118 posted on 04/06/2009 6:14:02 PM PDT by Shyla
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To: autumnraine

... Giving attention to OUR SOLDIERS GRAVES: boy what a good point. Somehow I managed to not see that fact.


119 posted on 04/06/2009 6:14:08 PM PDT by frposty (I'm a simpleton)
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To: Right_in_Virginia
And count on Obama doing the same thing when his thugs do a poll

If they do a poll on this, they'd better go somewhere else besides the Welfare office this time...
120 posted on 04/06/2009 6:14:55 PM PDT by HotLead61 (Death as a Free Man is much preferred to "life" as a slave)
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