Americans swamp French Embassy 'It never stopped, it was crazy,' said diplomat after 1,000 calls

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | 12 Feb. 03 | Staff Writer

[txradioguy]

France's resistance to U.S. policy on Iraq, capped off by its role in blocking U.S.-backed plans to bolster Turkish defenses against a possible Iraqi missile attack, is resulting in a massive outpouring of U.S. anger against France, evidenced by the 1,124 angry calls received by the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., in just one day.

Coming in the wake of Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech to the U.N. on Iraq, the embassy felt under siege, reports the Scotsman newspaper.

"It never stopped. It was crazy. Unbelievable," said one French diplomat.

Although the embassy's Nathalie Loiseau notes that some letters and e-mail are supportive of Paris' position, she admits in a Financial Times report that some "would like to boycott France and French products."

With some U.S. talk radio shows openly calling for repatriation of America's war dead, noted the Scotsman, the phrase "if it weren't for us you'd be speaking German" has become a popular refrain.

"The French attitude is self-defeating," says Gary Schmitt of the Project for a New American Century, said the report. "They are undermining the credibility of the U.N. and now throwing NATO into disarray. I don't know if they realize how they're also causing a split in Europe. If you total up all the things they are interested in, you find that they're making a hash of all of them."

Meanwhile, as WorldNetdaily reported this week, France was found to be more unpopular among Americans now than at any time in the past decade in a new Gallup poll. Unfavorable opinions of France have jumped 17 points in the past year while favorable opinions have dropped 20 points.

American attitudes toward Germany, another European power unwilling to support the U.S. on Iraq, also have become more negative, according to the annual Gallup Poll Social Series Update on World Affairs, conducted Feb. 3-6.

In its editorial yesterday the Washington Post argued that France and Germany now "behave as if they share the same over-riding goal as the Iraqi dictator: thwarting U.S. action even when it is supported by most other NATO and European nations."

Great Britain ranked at the top of the list of 26 nations with a +83 percent favorable rating, while Iraq rounded off the bottom with a -85 percent score. Iran and North Korea, the other two nations identified by President Bush as comprising the "axis of evil," joined Iraq at bottom of the list.

Bush 'disappointed'

The White House yesterday scoffed at Paris's offer to fortify U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq after President Bush complained he was "disappointed" with France's refusal to cooperate with NATO.

The Bush administration's exasperation with Paris is affecting public perception, reported the Financial Times, noting as an example the New York Post's coverage of the international dispute. The paper ran a picture of WWII American soldiers' graves near Omaha Beach Monday, headlined: "They died for France but France has forgotten."

New York Post reporter Steve Dunleavy, depicted near the grave of a young American soldier, wrote: "The air is chilled, but I feel an unnatural glow of rage -- I want to kick the collective butts of France. These kids died to save the French from a tyrant named Adolf Hitler. And now, as more American kids are poised to fight and die to save the world from an equally vile tyrant, Saddam Hussein, where are the French? Hiding. Chickening out. Proclaiming, Vive les wimps!"

Presidential press secretary Ari Fleischer said yesterday that French President Jacques Chirac hadn't mentioned France's intention to block Turkey's request for NATO assistance during his meeting last week with Bush. He claimed Bush didn't feel exactly "blindsided," but rather "disappointed at the "setback" for both NATO and Turkey.

Clinton administration deputy national security adviser Jim Steinberg says anti-French feeling is increasing in the U.S., according to the Financial Times. Concerned that it could get worse, Steinberg added: "The next two weeks are going to have a profound impact on transatlantic relations. There is a consensus that whatever the U.S. has done wrong, it does not justify the way the French and the Germans are playing this."

[Titanites]

entering into the U.S. Army Airborne next year

A word of caution for you on French made tanks. They have 6 gears: 5 reverse and 1 forward (just in case they get attacked from behind).

[Happy2BMe]

Our German Friends Sharing Our "New" Europe

How history will tell the story:

A. The U.N. sent inspectors into Iraq to find weapons of mass destruction - the same WMD Saddamn said he did not have. Forming new alliances, France, Germany, and Belgium, continually sought prolonged inspection times in their attempts to restrain the U.S. and Britian from attacking Saddam. The U.N. Council repeatedly ruled in thir favor.

B. Saddamn, while insisting (and convincing France, Germany, and Belgium) he had no WMD, at the same time threatened the U.S. and Britian to destroy them (WITH THE SAME WMD HE CLAIMED NOT TO HAVE) if they attacked Iraq.

C. The United States and Britian agreed that Saddamn had not complied with U.N. resolution 1440, had WMD, then attacked and removed Saddamn from power to prevent him (or other terrorists) from using them.

D. After the U.S. and Britian attacked Iraq, vast stores of WMD, chemical, biological, and yes - even some nuclear - were uncovered by the prevailing U.S. and British forces.

E. Saddamn and his two sons were tried before a U.N. tribunal and unaimously found to be enemies of minkind perptetuating mass murders on their own people of magnitudes and ferociouceness not seen since Adolph Hitler's actions created the word "genocide." They were summarily executed by firing squads for their crimes against humanity.

F. The Democrats in the United States had their worst election returns in the 2004 elections in that party's history.

G. George W. Bush was elected president for a second term in 2004 by the largest landslide in U.S. history.

H. Ditto for Tony Blair.

I. Hillary Clinton was defeated for his (grin) bid for reelection in New York State.

[Gaelic]

Yeah, and most of their firearms have solid barrels so they won't shoot themselves.

[Dec31,1999]

Gee, it seems almost as though France has an almost "unexplainable" fear of war with Iraq, even if we win. What are they afraid of?

The cowards are afraid of an uprising of all those islamofascists that they shouldn't have let into the country in the first place. Pure wimps. We should bomb Paris and destroy all those nice, historical limestone buildings that were left untouched only because of their cowardice in WWII. They deserve it.

[Gaelic]

They are afraid of their own Legionnaires. That's why they are not stationed on French soil.

[Burr5]

"What are they afraid of?"

My newest theory (one which is based on evidence I've heard) is that they fear the world will learn from the newly liberated Iraqi bureaucrats that France, Germany, and Russia have not only supplied WMD components during the sanctions-period, but have also TAKEN MASSIVE MONETARY BRIBES from Saddam to obstruct us in the Security Council.

I do not put it past them.

Saddam has been paying 100x market value for rifles from the axis of weasels.

He also paid the Frogs 200 million for (I think it was) construction work that has been valued at just 50 million.

No, it wouldn't make a difference for anyone's national economy. But it might make one hell of a difference to a bunch of corrupt socialist politicians' personal economies, if you get my drift.

And if you remove the fear of Saddam, these details, if true, would surely come to light.

[Sentis]

If the French country people are so much more likable why when traveling to the little town of Agincourt there is a sign that says in English "Nothing of Military significance ever occurred here". :)

[Gunrunner2]

>>...entering into the U.S. Army Airborne next year...

Well, good for you.<<

Questions/Observations:

1) What does "U.S. Army Airborne" mean? Which division? Corps? What?

2) How does he know he will be entering "the U.S. Army Airborne?" I mean, when you enlist do they tell you what corps you will be assigned? And if this cheese-eater is entering through ROTC/OCS or an Academy, or enlisting in the service, he would NOT refer to ANY army unit as "U.S. Army Airborne." That's just plain awkward and wrong syntax.

This yahoo may be enlisting (doubful), but if he is, he is dreaming if he thinks he KNOWS what unit he will be assigned. He may have a desired MOS, and may be pre-selected for some sort of training, but no guarantees. And if he knew beforehand what unit he was being assigned, he would say so and NOT refer to it as some namless "U.S. Army Airborne."

I have my doubts about this "man's" allegation.

[VOA]

...why when traveling to the little town of Agincourt there is a sign that says in English
"Nothing of Military significance ever occurred here". :)

Sounds like some sort of Post-Modern French Existential Ennui Explanation of THEIR DEFEAT.

I still can't believe that I got a relatively good public high school eductation
and didn't hear Shakespeare's "St. Crispin's Day" speech until I was in my thirties.

At least I was educated enough to know a real gem when I hear it.

(And a nod of the head to my Welsh forebearors...thanks to them I pull a
bow with amazing ease, compared to my otherwise stronger friends!)

[cookcounty]

"...... I wonder how many of you constant French bashing imbeciles have ever been to France. They aren't anti-american except for perhaps Paris and in a few other large cities, but I would say that left wing crackpots hang out in our big cities also. If you people would actually buy a plane ticket and visit the French countryside and the smaller and medium sized towns, you will find American flags flying next to the tricolor, you will be treated like family, and you will meet some of the greatest, gracious, Christian people on the planet. "

I was there last summer and I'm going again in July. Small town France is great (and cheap---you can rent a new 3-bedroom house for $400/week ) , the countryside is fantastic and the people are wonderful. SW France is best, because it's both sunny and cheap.

Most of these people that complain about the French people have limited their travels to downtown Paris, It's like visiting Times Square and then saying, "you know, I've been to America, and those Americans are really arrogant and degenerate."

I DO have a big beef (haha) with the government, though, so go ahead, SEND THOSE WHITE FEATHERS TO CHIRAC, I'm making a home-made one right now.

[Dec31,1999]

We saved France the last time around to keep a free Europe. Never again! The French deserve to become enslaved.

[Middle Man]

The French are not above criticism, but most Americans don't know how the U.S. in its foreign policy has royally screwed the French for over 80 years, because Americans generally know so little history about peoples beyond our shore. Here's another side to the story that explains why the French are not rushing to support us in this conflict.

[Gaelic]

Mr Rinfret is trying to blame us for the French and Indian wars.Of denying them their colonies.Of destroying the League of nations even though we were not apart of it. It would have worked (Hallie Sallassie asked for help and what did it get him?) The French tortured imprisoned Algerians. In Rwanda they backed the Hutus. Interfered in Canadian politics (Quebec) and so on. Les pauvres petit bebes.

[Dec31,1999]

We are trying to build a world which is a mirror image of the United States and it won't fly now and never will.

"A mirror image" is hyperbole. The French just hate our success. They hate to share their own successes with the "uncultured" Americans. It's just not enough for them that most of the world loves France and the French. (Including myself to a degree.)

In pushing for freedom and democracy around the world we have denied the rights of other nations to be what they are, to live as they wish and to follow the beliefs they want to follow.

In pushing for freedom and democracy around the world we....

No agenda here.

[virgil]

I'm an American actually, born and bred here, entering into the U.S. Army Airborne next year, and would never leave on account of your sorry @$$

It would seem things have become very relaxed since I was in the service, but that was back in the cold war with all that stuff about mutually assured destruction. I guess they don't do security clearances anymore. If they still do, then they need to re-do yours.

[Dengar01]

With some U.S. talk radio shows openly calling for repatriation of America's war dead, noted the Scotsman, the phrase "if it weren't for us you'd be speaking German" has become a popular refrain.

LOL Thats what Michael Savage always says!

[1rudeboy]

Oh, yeah, they're so conservative that they have proclaimed socialists and communists in government on a regular basis. So similar to the U.S., aren't they?

Good grief. At least their socialists and communists "proclaim" that they are socialists and communists. Do you follow American politics?

[Capitalist Eric]

Well, though he IS an ignorant rube, it is possible- for special programs- to know what program you'll be in, before you actually go to "boot."

I, for example, was automatically accepted to the Naval Nuclear Power school, prior to actually hitting boot-camp. Of course, there were no guarantees that I'd graduate (which I did), just that I would get to the school... So yeah, it's possible.

But considering how stupid and stubborn he is, I highly doubt he'll make it to the Rangers- they want people who can think on their feet, not be simple cannon-fodder, like this clown is....

FReegards,

[George W. Bush]

...Do you follow American politics?

Well, there's still a shade of difference. I haven't noticed too many rightwingers emigrating to France as the last great hope of conservative republican governance. My point is they're visibly and proudly more socialist than we are. We are heartless capitalist cowboys to the Frog People.