Posted on 05/26/2002 5:22:27 PM PDT by Pokey78
THE Americans landed in force in France yesterday, from the seaside villages of Normandy to the heart of Paris. Their arrival stoked the anger of thousands of protesters who see President Bush as the world’s biggest bully and warmonger. The presence of the huge presidential entourage for Mr Bush’s first visit to Paris offered France a chance to indulge in the extraordinary mixture of resentment and admiration that it has always held for the United States. It also prompted one of the biggest security operations France has ever mounted for one man, and contrasted starkly with Mr Bush’s warm reception in Russia. In the capital’s Place de la République and in the Norman city of Caen, there were demonstrations against the “evil empire” of “le cowboy Bush”. The protesters included intellectuals, anti-globalisation champions and officials from the Green and Communist parties that were part of the last Government of Lionel Jospin. “Law not war!” one squad of protesters chanted, in English. Police moved swiftly to halt one show of protest, clearing the Pont de Grenelle over the Seine after anti-death penalty demonstrators hung silhouettes from the bridge symbolising the 152 prisoners executed during Mr Bush’s governorship of Texas. Mr Bush, seen as naive and dangerous by the Left in France, embodies the Republican, God-fearing side of America that French intellectuals love to despise. But while the Left and the satirists lampoon the President, fewer than 10 per cent of French people say that they actively dislike America, a poll found this month. In Caen, where Mr Bush will today pay homage to the American dead at the D-Day landing beaches, protesters shouted: “No to imperial America.” The President was accused of “using the memory of the soldiers killed fighting Nazism to promote his plan for world domination”. Hundreds of US Secret Service agents and other personnel have been working for the past fortnight in Paris and Normandy to prepare for Mr Bush’s visit. In the capital, traffic was halted as 20 squadrons of riot police and mobile gendarmerie teams stood guard over the arriving President. Rooftops were searched, manhole covers welded down and snipers’ vantage points watched. Fear of missile attack led the US Secret Service to reject a French plan to fly Mr Bush by helicopter from Orly airport to the Elysée Palace for his meeting with President Chirac. Instead, after the President stepped from Air Force One on to 80 yards of red carpet, he was driven along sealed roads in an armoured motorcade. Tourists, café owners and residents chafed behind barriers around the Place de la Concorde, the American Embasssy and the Elysée Palace. “We’ve never seen a fuss like this,” said one café owner in the Rue de Castiglione. “You’d think it was the Pope, President and the national football team all rolled into one.” Other bystanders shrugged off the gargantuan security show. “You have to admit, this just reeks of American power,” said Marcel, a pensioner walking his dog. “They are like the Romans in conquered territory, but good luck to them. We have always liked the Americans.” Pro-American sympathies were, as always, more evident in Normandy.“They came to save us and we can’t forget that,” said Jacques, 66, a resident of Lisieux whose father’s ironmongers’ shop was destroyed when American bombers almost razed the town. At Saint Mère Eglise, where American parachutists landed before the beach invasion, residents were preparing for their first visit by an American President. Marc Lefèvre, the Mayor, said that the town would never forget its American connection. “Despite the difficulties over the years between France and the United States, we’ve always remained faithful to those who liberated us,” he said. A mannequin representing an American soldier is permanently suspended from the church spire in memory of Private John Steele of the 82nd Airborne Division, whose parachute became entangled with the roof. Howard Manoian, 77, one of Steele’s former comrades, came from America to live at Saint Mère 18 years ago. This weekend Mr Manoian said that Americans were no longer as welcome as they used to be. “There was a time when Americans could do no wrong here,” the retired Massachusetts police officer told reporters. “We Americans stick our noses in everybody’s affairs. We push them around.” Down the road near Caen airport, hundreds of residents were ordered to remove their cars from streets and told that all movement would be barred for most of today. Six Chinook US military helicopters were parked at the little airport. “Don’t even think of trying to come here on Monday,” an airport manager told pilots who sought landing permission at the airport.
Interesting.
As for the French, sprechen sie Deutsche?
JFYI, because their propaganda is effectual in perpetuating your sentiment of hatred.
For all Freepers who are Europeans, I'm sorry. You obviously have about a light years step ahead of the rest of the Continent!
Less than 60 years ago these scum were selling their sisters for a cigarette and a Hershey bar. It isn't only in America where History is not studied.
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