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HOW DARE THE FRENCH FORGET
New York Post ^ | 2/10/03 | STEVE DUNLEAVY

Posted on 02/10/2003 3:01:02 AM PST by kattracks

Edited on 05/26/2004 5:12:02 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

February 10, 2003 -- COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France - They stand only 3 feet high, but they're towering mountains of sacrifice.

I'm standing in the American Cemetery. Gray clouds hang low as if in mourning for the nearly 10,000 young Americans buried beneath crosses and Stars of David that stretch as far as the eye can see.


(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
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To: All
It’s not so important that US stopped Hitler (in 1944 Soviet army already approached to German’s borders) but that they stopped Europe from to be sovietized. If not US and Britain Europe countries could be new republics of USSR for the next 50 years. That meant that instead of Hitler rulling they got Stalin which didn’t make any difference but was even worse.
81 posted on 02/10/2003 12:55:11 PM PST by dvas
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To: LaBelleDameSansMerci
We did not enter WWII to free the French. We did not enter WWI to free the French.

That much is clear.

They owe us nothing. Any gain that France received from us entering either war was coincidental to the reasons for which we did enter the war, national interests.

France now pursues its national interest. Just as they benefited from us in WWII, we may coincidentally benefit from their reluctance to sign on to a premature military adventure. France now seems to be about all that stands in the way of that war. Vive le France!

Good to see you back on this board.

Regards.

82 posted on 02/10/2003 1:00:03 PM PST by The Irishman
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To: LaBelleDameSansMerci
A. Stuff it. Neither any kin nor I need instruction on sacrifice, in Europe, or the Pacific, from the like of you, as we have, and will continue to fight, freely, knowingly and bravely for 200 years for this country. Right or wrong.

B. The Japanese Imperial forces attacked Pacific wide. Furthermore, as in Iraq, we were already in a state of actual war with Japan. Limp wrist niceties aside.

C. A better question of the dead would be of the Gulf war dead, or to use your lame example, the dead of WWI who had to watch their sons die twenty years later due to the failure of pettifog word slingers and la-de-da theoretical vanities.

D. Europe is not home. It is foreign. Disinterring is not desecration. (Nice try you pathetic snail)

83 posted on 02/10/2003 1:27:02 PM PST by Leisler (Europeans Suck)
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To: LaBelleDameSansMerci
"To accuse the Europeans of "forgetting" bcause some of them refuse to go along with our attack upon Iraq is idiotic."

Fine, they don't forget, they just don't learn. That would explain European history. Either though, are a workible explaniton, so your point is mute.

84 posted on 02/10/2003 1:31:56 PM PST by Leisler (Europeans Suck)
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To: nutmeg; SAMWolf; Black Agnes; Marine Inspector; davidosborne; AntiJen
thanks,

Didn't we also help the French in VietNam? And where was the French when Reagan wanted to Bomb Kahdafi.

God Bless our Veterans and the Great USA.
85 posted on 02/10/2003 1:34:42 PM PST by Coleus (RU 486 Kills Babies)
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To: Coleus

Thanks for the ping

86 posted on 02/10/2003 1:39:17 PM PST by SAMWolf (To look into the eyes of the wolf is to see your soul)
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To: LaBelleDameSansMerci
I wish an American President would pursue American interests with as much loyalty, devotion and fierceness as DeGaulle did French interests.

You are correct in this statement. France has always put its national interest above everything else.

We were in France 3 weeks before Sept 11., attending a family wedding. I was fascinated to hear the personal story of WW II from my nephew's new French family. Hearing them talk, you would have thought it ended yesterday. They have known war, intimately , unlike any of us can even imagine. And they have known it for generations.

Before we met them, we had our trip to Normandy. The town where we stayed had 6 structures left standing after the invasion. We walked the beaches and visited the cemetaries. All of them. American, British, Canadian, and German. We walked through the huge gun emplacements and gazed out at the Channel. We stood atop the bluffs, and I marvelled at the bravery of our men, our boys, fighting their way off the beach. I was overwhelmed with emotion thinking of them, fighting for their very lives. Until I stood there myself, I couldn't have a full appreciation of the sacrifices that were made.

I can't argue Frances' surrender in the face of overwhelming odds. They did what they could. I'll not blame their soldiers, their boys. I'll blame the leaders of all involved, that they didn't have the courage to stop the madness of Hitler and Tojo, and Mussolini when they had the opportunity. This is the lesson that MUST be recalled today.

In confronting the madman Saddam, I think President Bush is absolutely working in the best interest of this nation. He is going to stop him, "unilaterally" if he has to. That is what is driving the anti-war, globalist (pro marxist) faction crazy. I'm sick of listening to "expert" pundits from the Carter and Clinton administrations tell us what to do about North Korea and Iraq, after they bungled the job. These cowards, who were more concerned about winning a Nobel Peace Prize than protecting the interests of our country. They want a United States subservient to the United Nations.

Bush has shown courage in this case, as well as nixing the Kyoto accord, and the AMB treat with the former Soviet Union. Our national interest prevailed.

As far as other globalist leanings, that is another argument for another time.
87 posted on 02/10/2003 1:42:27 PM PST by baseballmom
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To: LaBelleDameSansMerci
Listing war dead is a pretty STUPID INFANTILE SOLIPSISTIC thing to do. If the cheese-eating surrender monkeys had not been obsessed with war in 1870, there arguably would not have been a Franco-Prussian War (or, certainly, if they had bothered to LOOK at the U.S. Civil War, the French wouldn't have LOST it!)

Don't pretend France wasn't lusting after "revanche" when it lurched into WW I. This was about Serbia? Please.

Then, having stumbled into two wars and managed to lose one and very nearly lose the other, the French sat on their hands while Hitler occupied the Rhineland with a TOTAL . . . TOTAL, mind you, in all Germany, of FIVE DIVISIONS (France alone had about 40).

No, your own rant is that of a "6th grade girl," and a pitiful defense (when none is possible) of a useless nation that lost its moral compass after Algeria.

88 posted on 02/10/2003 1:43:19 PM PST by LS
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To: Miss Marple
,,,I detest those who set themselves up as pseudo-intellectual, pseudo-rational critics of all things American (and British, for that matter)....

I'm not sure you comprehend the meaning of the word "all". If the war against Iraq is "all things American" then we're in even bigger trouble than the most melancholy observer could imagine.

Also, I think you're confusing the word "American" with the word "Bush".

It seems to be a common mistake around here these days.....

89 posted on 02/10/2003 1:47:46 PM PST by LaBelleDameSansMerci
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To: MadIvan
You can't put 10,000 graves of young Americans "in context." Where are the 10,000 French graves in America? Of course, what help would the effeminate men of France be in a war. It has been said that the reason it only took six weeks for the Germans to march through France is because French mothers were teaching their sons to dance, while German fathers were teaching their sons how to shoot. There is a lesson there for America.
90 posted on 02/10/2003 1:50:06 PM PST by kittymyrib
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To: LaBelleDameSansMerci
I'm not sure you comprehend the meaning of the word "all". If the war against Iraq is "all things American" then we're in even bigger trouble than the most melancholy observer could imagine

Come now, when was the last time that you agreed with anyone on anything in particular. You make a career of being contrary on here, even when being contrary is irrational.

You disagree with all things American because you disagree with everything. A rather nihilistic way of viewing the world, but fortunately, it is limited to you and a few of your extreme libertarian cohorts.

Ivan

91 posted on 02/10/2003 1:55:55 PM PST by MadIvan
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To: baseballmom
American Cemetery and Memorial is situated on a cliff overlooking Omaha Beach and the English Channel in Colleville-sur Mer, France.


92 posted on 02/10/2003 1:56:14 PM PST by baseballmom
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To: LaBelleDameSansMerci
You set yourself up as being intellectually superior to most of us. Therefore, when most agree on a course of action, you cannot agree because it is not "intellectual."

That is your privilege. However, you might just consider that President Bush is correct, and the Europeans (opportunists of the first order) are wrong.

Of course, that would involve agreeing with all of us simpletons, so I imagine you cannot bring yourself to consider that possibility.

93 posted on 02/10/2003 2:01:23 PM PST by Miss Marple
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To: RoughDobermann
Please respond to post #48. Thanks.
94 posted on 02/10/2003 2:28:37 PM PST by RoughDobermann
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To: LaBelleDameSansMerci
Tallying up totals of war dead in order to confer some kind of moral authority on the country with most casualties is an ethical and moral anti-concept. Russia and Germany signed a non-agression pact in order to more efficiently carve up Poland. Half or Russia's war dead were probably due to Stalin's own near-infinite callousness and contempt with which he treated his own troops. Stalin consistently used his troops as cannon fodder in order to keep his regime in place. This was one of the few tactics at Stalin's disposal since he had systemically purged the cream of his officer corps before the War.

Germany similarly should not attain any moral auhority or sympathy for its criminal assault on civilization. It is hard to understand how the French had so many casualties since they lost france in two weeks at the start of the war and only provided one division of "Free French" during the liberation of the country.

The US has had a military tradition since the Revolutionary War of being willing to trade treasure for blood. This is a good tradition that I hope we never relenquish. I am proud of the fact that our troops have historically been the best equipped and most lethal in the world. This is part of an honored tradition of attemtping conserve the lives of our warriors.


Political correctness and anti-Europeanism are not at the root of our current troubles with "old europe". Germany and France are attempting to recreate the Holy Roman Empire with themselves in control of it. They would like to control the entire European landmass from Brussells and freeze us out. The problem is that Jaques Chirac is no Charlemagne.
95 posted on 02/10/2003 2:33:03 PM PST by ggekko
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To: MadIvan
"...You disagree with all things American because you disagree with everything....

We're sitting here fighting it out on a forum called FreeRepublic. That indicates an underlying agreement about the cosmos---although I admit that I am always tempted to put you in another cosmos because I don't think you are exactly who you pretend to be.

And who are you to be the judge of "all things American" with your exaggerated Beefeater presentation? An English conservative--if that is, in fact, what you are--is not necessarily an American conservative on several key issues---EMPIRE being one of them.

I am sick of being told what is patriotic and what is not by a bunch of English refugees. You, Sullivan, Hitchens---in spite of your surface differences you are all the same. You fouled your own nest and now, like cowbirds, you have flocked across the pond to see what you can do about insuring that the United States makes all the mistakes England made.

Do you agree with your Prime Minister when he gives a rousing speech to his Party declaring that conservatism is what killed Martin Luther King? Just because Blair wags his tail every time an American President wants to bomb someone---remember how hard it wagged when he stood by Clinton's side--does not mean than Blairite England is a friend to America.

And I don't happen to believe you are really a friend to American conservatism AT ALL.

96 posted on 02/10/2003 2:45:42 PM PST by LaBelleDameSansMerci
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To: baseballmom
I just lost my reply to you. It's floating out there somewhere in space--like Dandelo's meow. That'll teach not to not use simple text. If I can remember anything after I finish cussing I'll try to reply again.

On the other hand, maybe it was an act of God. LOL...

97 posted on 02/10/2003 2:49:55 PM PST by LaBelleDameSansMerci
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To: LaBelleDameSansMerci
We're sitting here fighting it out on a forum called FreeRepublic. That indicates an underlying agreement about the cosmos---although I admit that I am always tempted to put you in another cosmos because I don't think you are exactly who you pretend to be.

I appear to have struck a nerve. Tsk tsk, madamoiselle. Your ill temper is showing.

And who are you to be the judge of "all things American" with your exaggerated Beefeater presentation? An English conservative--if that is, in fact, what you are--is not necessarily an American conservative on several key issues---EMPIRE being one of them.

Excuse me, but you started in on the Americans, saying they are an imperial power. This is simply not the case, and I have presented the reasons why - it is not "imperial" to ask Germany and France to show some courtesy. You are contorting yourself into some ideological knot in which you appear to be trying to say "real Americans agree with France and Germany", in spite of the obvious insults that those two nations have issued forth to America as of late.

I am sick of being told what is patriotic and what is not by a bunch of English refugees. You, Sullivan, Hitchens---in spite of your surface differences you are all the same. You fouled your own nest and now, like cowbirds, you have flocked across the pond to see what you can do about insuring that the United States makes all the mistakes England made.

Awwww, little La Belle Dame Sans Merci's world is shattered by us Big Nasty English! "Make the bad Englishmen go away, Mommy!" she cries, "And then we can have our libertarian paradise!"

Do you agree with your Prime Minister when he gives a rousing speech to his Party declaring that conservatism is what killed Martin Luther King? Just because Blair wags his tail every time an American President wants to bomb someone---remember how hard it wagged when he stood by Clinton's side--does not mean than Blairite England is a friend to America.

My position on Blair is this, and if you had any sense at all, you would pay attention before being so rash. Blair has flashes of brilliance, moments of insight. His stand with America on terrorism and Iraq is one of them. In contrast, this is your moment of profound ignorance and egotism.

And I don't happen to believe you are really a friend to American conservatism AT ALL.

My my, temper temper, madamoiselle. I wonder what my colleagues here would say to that?

Ivan

98 posted on 02/10/2003 2:51:45 PM PST by MadIvan
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To: LaBelleDameSansMerci
I can only respond to your ludicrous posts with Humor.

From the Great Mel Brooks Classic “Blazing Saddles”:

(line delivered at town meeting when Howard Johnson brings up Fredrick Nietzsches' musings about “out of chaos, comes order”)

“Blow out your a$$ Howard”.
99 posted on 02/10/2003 3:07:20 PM PST by pad 34 (Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum)
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To: The Irishman
"...we may coincidentally benefit from their reluctance to sign on to a premature military adventure...

Now that's the kind of collateral damage I could really go for!

And great to see you here too.

100 posted on 02/10/2003 3:36:53 PM PST by LaBelleDameSansMerci
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