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French govt says no to NYC firetruck in Bastille parade
<P>Arab News--SAUDI ARABIA'S FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE | 7-14-02 | Paul Michaud

Posted on 07/15/2002 11:43:42 AM PDT by Temple Owl

Arab News

SAUDI ARABIA'S FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY

http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=16877

French govt says ‘no’ to NYC firetruck in Bastille parade

By Paul Michaud, Special to Arab News

Published on 14 July 2002

PARIS, 14 July — This year’s Bastille Day parade, which today will go down the Champs-Elysee before a reviewing stand top heavy with such dignitaries as President Jacques Chirac, will not include one exhibit that US authorities had hoped would be accorded a place of honor in the July 14 manifestation: A shiny bright 9-meter long firetruck belonging to the fire department of the city of New York.

But, "enough is enough," say sources at the Elysee Palace who claim they’ve been besieged by phone calls from the highest levels of the United States government demanding that the truck — which took part in rescue efforts during last Sept. 11th’s attack on the World Trade Center — be allowed to roll down the world’s most famous avenue alongside the tanks, jeeps and other military vehicles that usually have their place in the annual July 14 event.

"We’ve already invited several hundred West Point cadets to march in this year’s parade, as well as some of the New York firemen who took part in Sept. 11 and have been decorated with the Legion of Honor, but there just isn’t any room for a firetruck!" said a presidential source in exasperation, imploring US authorities to stop placing pressure on Chirac to accommodate what one of his advisers has referred to as "some of the most capricious requests that have ever been made."

Without even apparently obtaining a green light from French authorities, the bright red firetruck arrived by boat quite symbolically last July 4, after a two-week sea crossing from New York to the Atlantic port of Le Havre. Ever since, it’s been parked at an undisclosed well-protected location in Paris awaiting an invitation from the parade’s organizers who, it was hoped, it would make it their guest of honor.

For the moment, though, the nine-meter long 20-ton vehicle will have to content itself with being exposed today in front of Paris City Hall, where Parisians will be allowed to discretely walk around it, although not go aboard (FDNY authorities are fearful that a terrorist or two may place a bomb under the driver’s seat).

Already, though, some of the firemen accompanying the truck are claiming that the refusal smacks of the same anti-Americanism of which the French have been accused these past several weeks in the United States, where Americans have been encouraged — notably by American Jewish organizations — to travel anywhere but France, the world’s most-visited destination with 76 million visitors last year — for this year’s summer vacation.

Other firemen note that if the French don’t want to include the firetruck in the parade — where the only vehicles are traditionally of military origin — it’s simply out of jealousy. "Our truck," says one firemen, making light of how the FDNY truck weighs 2.5 times a French firetruck, and is 50 percent longer — "would have attracted all of the attention away from the other vehicles in the parade."

What he doesn’t say is that French dockers at Le Havre decided to unload the FDNY truck free of charge, while the seventy New York firemen and their families who are in Paris on a special visit are the guests of the French government which is footing much of the bill for their housing and transportation.

"This is not New York," says the Elysee Palace source, "and one just doesn’t show up and decide to take part in the Bastille Day parade on a whim. The choice is made by the French president himself, upon the recommendation of the military governor of Paris. Imagine if we had to accommodate every organization that felt it had a God-given right to take part in a parade whose principal purpose — let’s not forget — is to commemorate military valor on the battlefield, not in the streets of New York.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: bastilleday; french; nycfiretruck
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To: Temple Owl
You should go back to "Best of the Web", click on ALL the links in the squib about "Saudi Journalism", and then eat some crow.
21 posted on 07/15/2002 12:23:43 PM PDT by stands2reason
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To: tracer
See posts 11, 12,13, & 16. It was a lie.
22 posted on 07/15/2002 12:24:46 PM PDT by stands2reason
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To: Conservative_Dr.Pepper_Drinker
I saw it in the parade - more ME misinformation?
23 posted on 07/15/2002 12:25:46 PM PDT by Let's Roll
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To: Temple Owl
Well, I watched NBC Nightly News last night, and they ran tape of the engine and the West Point cadet color guard parading down the Champs-Elysees. So whom do I believe...the Arab News or my lying eyes?

Stupid ragheads.

24 posted on 07/15/2002 12:26:08 PM PDT by RichInOC
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To: My2Cents
You guys, plllease! Our truck is bigger then their truck! Give it a rest. If France invited a bunch of NY fire fighters and their families, and paying for all the expenses, and awarding them with honor medals, what else do you guys want. You just like to drum the old worn out beat that the French do not like us.

I think the more hostilities appears from us towards them, the more reciprocation we can expect. Please do not take one of our favorite ally, and drive them away from us. Just play nice, damn it!

25 posted on 07/15/2002 12:30:45 PM PDT by philosofy123
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To: Temple Owl
By the way, before all of you get your panties in a wad, not only was there a fire truck from NYC there but the parade also had West Pointers marching in it. Check the news and think about where what you read is coming from....for God's sake, I thought Americans were getting smarter then to believe the Arab "free" press....maybe I was greviously wrong.
26 posted on 07/15/2002 12:31:06 PM PDT by Stavka2
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To: Stavka2
A whole lot of FR people have descended into permanent "post without thinking" mode. It's inexplicable...the Democrats can't afford to hire this many seminar posters!
27 posted on 07/15/2002 12:33:18 PM PDT by Mr. Jeeves
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Comment #28 Removed by Moderator

To: Temple Owl
You know its nuts the French celebrate the French revolution at all. Thats the worst thing about Bastille Day. The French revolution was a total disaster. Society goes nuts if you kill the Upper Class.
29 posted on 07/15/2002 12:46:32 PM PDT by weikel
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To: Temple Owl
You're either with us or against us.

This proves that the French are against us.

The upside is that all we have to do is send a dozen cops over to Paris, and the cheese eating surrender monkeys will give up in 36 hours.

30 posted on 07/15/2002 12:50:12 PM PDT by Vladiator
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To: Mr. Jeeves
The usual "post without reading the thread" syndrome.
31 posted on 07/15/2002 12:53:06 PM PDT by Shooter 2.5
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To: Mr. Jeeves; Vladiator
Let me rephrase that. The usual "posting without looking at the pretty pictures" syndrome.
32 posted on 07/15/2002 12:56:36 PM PDT by Shooter 2.5
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To: Temple Owl
I'll bet that even the crossword puzzles in Arab Newspapers are lies.
33 posted on 07/15/2002 1:03:52 PM PDT by Frances_Marion
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Comment #34 Removed by Moderator

To: philosofy123
To make up for my regrettable opinion of the French, I will root for the Montreal Expos for the remainder of the season.
35 posted on 07/15/2002 1:32:59 PM PDT by My2Cents
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To: bok
Well, that's what I get for only skimming an article and not considering the source. Saudi lies and propaganda. Nombreux apologie.
36 posted on 07/15/2002 1:38:59 PM PDT by My2Cents
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To: Conservative_Dr.Pepper_Drinker
This whole story is made up. The firetruck was in the parade and there was no controversy reported outside of the paranoid idiot arab world.

Right you are. Saw the truck on tv today as well as a corps of West Point cadets leading the parade.

37 posted on 07/15/2002 1:50:32 PM PDT by aculeus
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To: Temple Owl
WTH would the French want a NY fire truck in their parade?

WTH would we want our fire truck in some French parade?

38 posted on 07/15/2002 1:56:38 PM PDT by Sloth
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To: Mr. Jeeves
Oh, go kiss a Frenchman.
39 posted on 07/15/2002 2:24:19 PM PDT by Temple Owl
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