Bush Administration Still Castigating France

Reuters ^ | 5/7/2003 | Reuters Staff

[ConservativeVoice]

Rice Says France, Germany Took NATO 'Hostage'
Wed May 7, 2003 07:47 AM ET
MADRID (Reuters) - U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice disparaged France for taking NATO "hostage" over Iraq and for threatening smaller countries with reprisals if they backed Washington's war to oust Saddam Hussein.

"Nobody should take NATO hostage," Rice said in an interview with four Spanish newspapers published on Wednesday.

"It was very unsettling that Germany and France tried to prevent NATO from reinforcing the security of Turkey. There were many unsettling things in that process," she told Spanish national newspapers El Pais, El Mundo, ABC and La Vanguardia.

Her comments were reported in Spanish.

While saying that France and Germany would remain U.S. allies, Rice also said France did more to divide Europe over Iraq than did the United States.

"The United States did not divide the Europeans...It wasn't us that threatened smaller countries with reprisals nor tried to shut up the countries of Eastern Europe," Rice said in reference to France.

In the run-up to the war in Iraq, France actively lobbied smaller countries on the U.N. Security Council to reject a resolution that would have approved the use of force.

French President Jacques Chirac also took to task future members of the European Union from Eastern Europe for backing the United States on Iraq when they could have remained silent.

In what was seen as the biggest crisis within NATO for decades, France and Germany delayed a military aid package for Turkey that was meant to bolster its defenses before the war in Iraq.

[ConservativeVoice]

Looks like the administration isn't going to forget anytime soon.

France deserves it!

[browardchad]

It's more than a matter of holding a grudge. The message here is that we can no longer trust France. It's more a matter of national security.

[mountaineer]

An unknown number of Iraqis who worked for Saddam Hussein's government were given passports by French officials in Syria, U.S. intelligence officials said.

The passports are regarded as documents of the European Union, because of France's membership in the union, and have helped the Iraqis avoid capture, said officials familiar with intelligence reports.

The French support, which was revealed through sensitive intelligence-gathering means, angered Pentagon, State Department and intelligence officials in Washington because it undermined the search for senior aides to Saddam, who fled Iraq in large numbers after the fall of Baghdad on April 9.

"It made it very difficult to track these people," one official said.

A second Bush administration official said, "It's like Raoul Wallenberg in reverse," a reference to the Swedish diplomat who supplied travel documents to help Jews escape Nazi Germany in World War II. "Now you have the French helping the bad guys escape from us."

---

Full story here: http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20030506-32981825.htm

[Cathryn Crawford]

Ping!!!

[Cathryn Crawford]

Castigation? How bout another word that sounds kinda like like that one?

Oh, wait, they are already emasculated enough....

[Cathryn Crawford]

Elitist francophile ping!

[Smile-n-Win]

I would wager that the next war involving Western Europe will be between France and the United States.

[SwinneySwitch]

How about: Bush Administration CASTRATES France!

Except, they're already impotent, NEVERMIND!

[FreedomPoster]

I just read the headline. Immediate response:

Good. Keep up the excellent work.

Will now read the article.

[ConservativeVoice]

Thanks!

[Miss Marple]

I had the exact same reaction to the headline. LOL!

Does Reuters think this headline will provoke outrage against the administration? Ha!

[.45MAN]

ping

[Eala]

It's not just the administration: French Wine Sales Down in U.S.

[blackdog]

My local NPR station had some French idiot who is residing in California blather on and on about how foolish Americans are to behave this way. Not one call got thru which was able to define the argument in the context of France's violation of UN Trade Sanctions, it's sale and consult on military arms, and so on.....

The Frenchie just claimed to know that we are mad at the French over childish name calling. He claimed that the argument from France over US policy is just a simple difference in foreign policy and that is expected in a civil society. His reckoning of their illegal conduct and deals with Iraq was never mentioned.

Of course being NPR, an endless stream of uninformed morons just kept piling on our violent president and for some reason really went after Cheyney. One university professor framing the debate actually was celebrated for proclaiming that any one Americans life is no more important than any one elses life on this globe. I couldn't fickin believe it!

[putupon]

Stinky Cheese Still Constipating France

[Smile-n-Win]

Does Reuters think this headline will provoke outrage against the administration?

They apparently do. But what the headline will actually achieve is to make more people aware of the bias in the media.

9/11 had important side effects, and Reuters still doesn't get it.

[VRWC_minion]

Look at the verbs to see the bias in reporting:

The U.S., CASTIGATED and DISPARGED France. While the moderate peace keeping Frenchmen, "actively lobbied" and "took to task".

Now, Johnnie after reading this can you explain to the class, Who is the bully ?

[ConservativeVoice]

"Look at the verbs to see the bias..."

Very good point!

[Beck_isright]

And the bitchslapping of the french continues. I love it.