The Perfidy Of The French...

Iconoclast.ca ^ | Jan. 24, 2003 | Stephen Rittenberg

[FBD]

"To the French lying is simply talking" -- Fran Lebowitz

January 24, 2003: The utopian fantasists in our State Dept., having persuaded Pres. Bush to place his faith in the UN are now obliged to face reality. Will they?

Colin Powell, the chief utopian, argued against deposing Saddam in 1991 in favor of the wishful fantasy that military defeat would be sufficient to defang him. It wasn't, because in Saddam's psychopathic world of brute force, survival against the United States constitutes victory and is concrete evidence of our weakness. Saddam would never allow an enemy to escape alive if he had the opportunity to kill him, for it would indicate weakness and would embolden his foes. Consequently, after the '91 war, he redoubled his efforts to acquire devastating weaponry against what he sensed was a pusillanimous foe, while we politely looked away. The danger steadily grew in the 1990's while our then President turned his attention to more pressing matters, like obtaining sexual favors from interns in the oval office.

Meanwhile, despite his disastrous advice in 1991, Colin Powell rose to ever greater power. He proved himself the quintessential diplomat whose faith lies in written agreements and who believes the way to peace is via empathic concern for our adversaries. Powell is a gifted, smooth-as-silk negotiator, who seems to have persuaded the President to treat the UN as a serious international body, rather than what it is -- a collection of mostly authoritarian and autocratic governments run by thugs with more in common with Saddam than with us. The nature of this body was again made clear by the recent overwhelming election of Libya to head the UN Human Rights commission. This placed the UN beyond parody. Yet our State Dept utopians continue to pay deference to the many countries in that august body, including some of our putative "allies," who were only too happy to see the United States suffer the blows of 9-11.

The one benefit of our seemingly endless diplomacy at the UN is the emergence of a new clarity about our "allies," France and Germany. They are working tirelessly to persuade the world that the great threat to global security emanates not from Iraq, but from the power of the United States. By appeasing Saddam through the farcical Hans Blix "inspections" (Hans Blix seems able to find his table at Rao's more easily than he can locate Baghdad), they pursue a policy that enmeshes us in endless UN process and requires us to ask permission before we can act. And while the leaders of France and Germany speak of 'peace,' what they have in mind is postponing action by the United States indefinitely. They are effectively supporting Saddam, hoping -- in the time-warmed tradition of European appeasement -- that he will turn his anthrax and Sarin against the United States rather than against his European trading partners. No doubt they will express eloquent sympathy when the U.S. counts the casualties in the next bioterror assault, courtesy of Saddam's laboratories.

And what of the endless cant about not going to war except as a last resort? Have we forgotten we are at war, a war declared on us on 9-11, that Saddam continues to wage war on his own people and on American and British pilots, and that he quite openly supports suicide terror aimed at America's one democratic ally in the Middle East?

This writer believes that it requires no Sherlock Holmes to deduce that Saddam is intimately involved with anti-American terror groups around the globe. With all this, the behavior of France and Germany can best be understood as dupicitous acts of realpolitik by countries lacking in military might, aimed at taming and weakening America's global power. And if you don't buy that rationale, then another powerful explanation has been offered by Steven den Beste who suspects that France and Germany wish to conceal the fact that for years, in violation of the UN embargo, they've been selling Saddam the building blocks for his WMD programs.

Countries change their national character about as readily as individuals. For example, William Safire documents the treachery of the French, who played Colin Powell like a violin, assuring him of support and then turning on him. Yet Powell insisted to Jim Lehrer that he had not been sandbagged by the French. Not at all; perhaps it had all been a misunderstanding that requires a bit more consultation and discussion over a fine Burgundy.

We would suggest that our diplomats be forced to read Mark Twain on the French. Long before the French added the art of appeasement to their highly developed art of cuisine he commented: "There is nothing lower than the human race -- except the French." He added: "The French are the connecting link between man & the monkey."

However, if our multicultural diplomats find Mark Twain politically incorrect and therefore not worth reading, I would then recommend the contemporary wit, Fran Lebowitz, who made the following observation: "The French probably invented the very notion of discretion. It's not that they feel that what you don't know won't hurt you, they feel that what you don't know won't hurt them. To the French lying is simply talking."

Hopefully even Colin Powell will awaken from his Dream of Reason -- the fantasy that all differences are due to misunderstandings and can be worked out through rational dialogue. If he doesn't, let's hope the President takes the policy reins out of the hands of the utopians and places them in the hands of the realists -- Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Cheney. The hour is late, the peril grows, and the temporizers are gaining strength. Peace follows victory. Hurry up please, it's time.

Stephen Rittenberg, Co-Publisher, Horsefeathers

[Hard_to_be_a_Christian]

ARRGH- it didn't work... Try pasting this is your browser and remember, it's directed at France. http://www.craig-colorado.us/audio/hamster.ram

[FBD]

bttt!

[freedumb2003]

Man--

what a powerful post!! I have bookmarked it to have it at the ready when the weak and stupid try to make fun of our president and the great state of Texas (and I am doing a little pennance in that area myself).

God Bless America and thank you Texas!

[chilepepper]

to understand the UN, remember that all the UN bureaucrats think in french (!)...

I will share herewith the diary of a UN bureaucrat sneaked out from the UN at great cost and sacrifice and translated from the original french, the official language of the UN...

Last night I layed down in my bed and surrendered to the pillow. Woke up refreshed, went to the bathroom and surrendered a pile of merde to the toilet. Went to the kitchen and surrendered to a tasty croissant with camembert (the *real* french kind mellowed and aged in a cow turd).

Got in my Peugeot. wouldn't start, sacre bleu! My very good friend Henri helped me fix it and to celebrate we surrendered to each other while watching a video about Gay Paree. Got into my Peugeot and surrendered to the terrible morning traffic.

Arrived at UN Headquarters and eagerly surrendered to filling out a pile of UN forms on filling out forms. at 10am got up and surrendered to a cup of latte'. At noon, sent to the cafeteria and surrendered to the tasty goat brains and moutard brulee' (a ethnic Mongolian dish). went back to the office and surrendered to a staff meeting on the UN etiquette of not mentioning African genocide in ethics meetings.

A long day, I am truly surrendered!

Got back in my Peugeot, which again wouldn't start. My very good friend Jacques helped me start it and to celebrate we surrendered our derrieres to each other.

I surrendered again to the traffic, got home and surrendered to the couch and Bill Moyers on PBS, a truly progressive program I surrender with fully... I Surrendered to a long and warm session with my bidet, mon petit derriere worked so hard today! Perhaps tomorrow I will surrender to a nice warm enema? Finally surrendered to a few chapters of "Nothing and Nothingness" by Jean Paul Sartre. lay down in my bed and surrendered for the evening...

[FBD]

lol! Good one!

Did you see post #52?

[FBD]

"God Bless America and thank you Texas! "

Dittos to that!
RE: post #45: That article gave me a new found respect for Texans, and a lower esteem for the French. (If that is possible.)

Did you see the post by Mamzelle, where she decribes the Iranian hostage crises? Our fleeing diplomats were turned away from the French Embassy. That's right, they locked 'em out. I had never heard that before. Perfidy: treachery, traitorous behaviour. Right on the money.

[chilepepper]

First rate magazine cover!!

[FBD]

There's some really good stuff on this thread. Especially Post #9"history of French Warfare, and #45 (Excellant article) Ping your friends! I'd like to keep it going. And of course, add some more light-hearted French bashing...

[FBD]

Bump to Posts #9, 45, 57, 64, 72

Especially #45- Makes you proud to be an American, and especially proud and thankful for the WW2 boys from Texas, that saved the un-grateful French.

[FBD]

Ping for more French bashing and humor: posts 9, 45, 57, 64,72

Please bump this thread if you like it, so others can see it, and add to it! Thanks. If you didn't see the History of French "warfare", guys please read post#9. It's a hoot!

And post #45 is a powerful article that was posted in the Iconoclast about the cowboys from Texas that saved a bunch of Frenchies pinned down during WW2.

Mamzelle, I was not aware of that incident during the Iranian hostage crisis. Thanks for posting that info. All the more reason to dislike them.

But wait, France did defeat an enemy, before:

I forgot about the French Navy sinking of the Green Peace boat "Rainbow Warrior"; finally someone they were willing to take on! It appears the Warrior is going to the Gulf to interfere with the war with Iraq. Think the French will try to stop them this time?

[Temple Owl]

Bump--go to google for anti french jokes.

What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up? The Army.

Why do frenchmen always were yellow ties ? A: to match the teeth

Whats the best place to hide your money ? A: under asoap f a frenchman's soap.

[dfwgator]

BTW, what did the UN do to stop 500,000 Rwandans from being slaughtered, hmmmm??? And also sir, why inthehell are Syria and China on the UN's human rights commission??? Ya ever looked at their record of human rights violations?

The French sided with the Hutus against the Tutsis? Why?? The Hutus were French-speaking and the Tutsi rebels were supported by English-speaking Uganda. The end result? 1 million Tutsia hacked to death. France has that blood on her hands. MF the French!!!

[hrhdave]

You might be interested in this cartoon.

http://www.atrentino.com/CartoonFrenchy.html

[FBD]

Thanks for the toon, FRiend!

[FBD]