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FRANCE WILL NOT JOIN COALITION
AP
Posted on 02/04/2003 7:50:39 AM PST by Recovering_Democrat
*********URGENT FROM THE AP***********
PARIS British Prime Minister Tony Blair fails to persuade France to join coalition ready to take quick action against Iraq.
TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: appease; appeasement; appeasse; arielsharon; axisofweasels; baghdad; blair; chirac; coalition; cowardice; cowards; dirtyunderwear; england; fahtnyurgenrldirectn; france; french; frenchies; frogs; hairyarmpits; holywar; iraq; islam; islamicjihad; israel; jacqueschirac; jihad; mohammed; muhammad; muslim; muslims; pacificists; paris; parissewers; peacenik; peaceniks; pissants; pissniks; screwezvousfrance; stupidity; supportourtroops; supportthetroops; un; unshavenarmpits; vichy; weapons; wimps; yellow
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To: TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
These toons are great!
To: Recovering_Democrat
who cares
182
posted on
02/04/2003 10:28:17 AM PST
by
The Wizard
(Demonrats are enemies of America)
To: Recovering_Democrat
Kofi Annan, U.N. secretary-general
"It is indeed tragic that diplomacy has failed, but there are times when the use of force may be legitimate in the pursuit of peace." (March 24, 1999)
To: Recovering_Democrat
They prefer to fight with the Iraqis, because they are concerned Anglo-American forces won't surrender.
To: ewing
The French tried to surrender to Blair, but he insisted his wife take their surrender. He had work to do.
To: Diddle E. Squat
"...you and all your silly English k-nippetts..."K-niggets (Knights)
186
posted on
02/04/2003 10:36:35 AM PST
by
BlueLancer
(Der Elite Møøsenspåånkængruppen ØberKømmååndø (EMØØK))
To: The Wizard
Very Sad that the country that produced Montcalm and Lafayette can only produce such as these. Charlemagne would look at these limp remains of his bloodline and spit.
187
posted on
02/04/2003 10:40:03 AM PST
by
Toirdhealbheach Beucail
(Am fear nach gheibh na h-airm 'n am na sith, cha bith iad aige 'nam a chogaidh)
To: Corin Stormhands
There is something to be said with having a gaggle of French women in front of our armored columns. If the wind is blowing toward Baghdad, the Iraqis will surrender and request the city be carpet-bombed with Chanel No. 5 to mask the stench.
Comment #189 Removed by Moderator
To: Recovering_Democrat
My patron saint is french, a sweet wonderful and loving person with courage and dignity. I feel bad for her that her country man have so shamed their nation. I hope she can talk the ALMIGHTY into giving them spines.
To: ladtx
Good news. All they would do is weaken the line anyway. Yes. Let'em hold the Maginot line on Iraqi Disarmament. And I hope the French are ready for the Sinead O'Connor look - after we discover and punish them for their traitorous complicity.
And this time, the Allies should shave ALL the little surrender monkeys bald, unlike just the female Lewinskis who'd slept with the Nazi's during WWII.
To: Recovering_Democrat
Dick Morris NY Post
February 4, 2003 -- CRITICS of President Bush say he has failed to rally our "traditional allies" - like France - to support his aggressive efforts to disarm Saddam Hussein. But since the Gulf War, in which France had token involvement, Paris has never been our ally where Iraq is concerned. Indeed, it has been more allied with Iraq than with us.
Throughout the '90s, France constantly pushed for the lifting of economic sanctions against Iraq. Bemoaning the fate of the Iraqi people, the French pushed to allow Saddam to sell oil on the global market (the so-called oil-for-food program). When America and Britain demanded tough controls on the funds from oil sales to be sure they did not go for arms, France objected that such controls would undermine Iraqi sovereignty.
Largely as a result of French pressure, the oil-for-food program was implemented, allowing Saddam to sell 500,000 barrels per day on the open market (about a sixth of his pre-war production).
But Saddam couldn't do much rearming with the oil money, because U.N. inspectors were looking over his shoulder. So in November 1997, he announced that he would bar Americans from the 77-member inspection team. The other inspectors withdrew in protest and solidarity with their American mates. The world was plunged into crisis. Once again, France took Saddam's side.
President Bill Clinton sent two aircraft carriers to the gulf and vowed that Saddam "must comply unconditionally with the will of the international community." French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine criticized Clinton for giving Saddam the impression that "there would never be a way out of the tunnel [of sanctions]," even if he got rid of all his weapons programs."
France demanded an end to all sanctions and called for unlimited oil sales by Iraq. Then suddenly Saddam seemed to back down in the face of Clinton's pressure and admitted the U.S. inspectors back in.
Had there been concessions to Saddam? Oh no, said Deputy National Security Adviser Sandy Berger: "There's no deal. There's no concessions."
But the French knew better. As Vedrine said, "The Americans bent a little." Pushed by France, the United States agreed to let Saddam increase his oil sales, ultimately letting sales grow to 2 million barrels per day. A concession to Iraq? No way, said Clinton's people: It was a concession to France; we were not giving in to Saddam.
Then, the next year, Saddam barred all U.N. inspectors. The final nail in the coffin of controls on Iraq came in 1999 when, again as a result of a French initiative, all limits on Iraqi oil sales were lifted. With no U.N. inspectors to inhibit him and $20 million a day in oil revenues, Saddam could build whatever weapons he wanted. Courtesy of France.
The only consistency in French policy toward Iraq since the Gulf War has been support for Saddam Hussein to weaken U.N. and U.S. measures against him. To hinge U.S. action on Iraq on French acceptance is like asking for the approval of the old Soviet Union before we moved against communism.
Why is France so pro-Saddam? It's the motive (wrongly) ascribed as behind U.S. enmity toward him: oil. French commercial deals with Middle East terrorist states dominate its foreign policy. It was a French company that risked U.S. sanctions by investing in Iranian oil production and it is French interests that benefit from the tie with Saddam.
Some ally!
Eventually, France will cave to the U.S. position: To fail to do so would be to consign the Security Council, France's only forum for the exercise of global power, to irrelevance. Bush's people said as much over the weekend, noting that a new U.N. resolution approving force was OK with them, but it's not high on their agenda.
France needs the United Nations to appear to be in charge, so that the French veto can appear to be important - and France can appear to still be a world power.
192
posted on
02/04/2003 11:12:47 AM PST
by
TUX
To: Recovering_Democrat
That's a relief.
To: Recovering_Democrat
well, they just leap-frogged farther into the mire of irrelevancy
194
posted on
02/04/2003 11:21:58 AM PST
by
demosthenes the elder
(poets - especially modern ones - should be wary of classical linguists)
To: hobbes1
GOD BLESS FRANCE! SHE IS ALWAYS THERE WHEN SHE NEED US.
FROM LETTERS TO THE WSJ 2/4/03 BY NORMAN BEIN, M.D.
195
posted on
02/04/2003 11:29:07 AM PST
by
Dqban22
To: Dqban22
Hey, that's OK.Let France Stay home.
The Iraqi soldiers don't want to have to stand in line when surrendering to CNN camera crews.
196
posted on
02/04/2003 11:32:27 AM PST
by
hobbes1
To: Recovering_Democrat
They should have no say in how Iraq is dealt with after it is liberated, then.
To: Recovering_Democrat
But Chirac will continue to insist that inspectors be given as much time as they judge necessaryI wonder if he'll be singing the same tune tomorrow after Colin Powell delivers his info to the UN.
198
posted on
02/04/2003 11:34:59 AM PST
by
SuziQ
To: SuziQ
I doubt it, Blair probably briefed him on much that Powell was going to say.
Nothing, maybe up to an Islamic mushroom cloud over Paris would change the mind of a true pacifist. The mentality of the 60's has complete hold over Germany and France. They are doomed countries. Unwalled villages, ripe for the plunder.
To: SuziQ
I'M SO SICK OF THE FRENCH!!Time to move on and leave France behind.
200
posted on
02/04/2003 11:39:40 AM PST
by
Wphile
(President Bush is a man of character)
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