Congressmen: France and Germany 'Beneath Contempt'

NewsMax.com ^ | Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2003

[nickcarraway]

Saying that phony "allies" have betrayed the United States, lawmakers are outraged that France, Germany and Belgium would let genocidal Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein attack Turkey.

The House International Relations Committee's top Democrat, Rep. Tom Lantos of California, said Tuesday he was "particularly disgusted by the blind intransigence and utter ingratitude" of Paris, Berlin and Brussels.

"If it were not for the heroic efforts of America's military, France, Germany and Belgium today would be Soviet socialist republics," Lantos noted. "The failure of these three states to honor their commitments is beneath contempt."

The committee's chairman, Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., said, "America has fought distant wars to defend whole continents from a succession of aggressors, but the beneficiaries of the safety we have ensured often devote their energies to impeding our efforts to help others."

Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that if the United States is forced to bypass the alliance, "NATO will quickly atrophy."

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Congress could consider reducing financial support for NATO.

Sure, the greedy "Axis of Weasel" wants to prop up Saddam because of the billions invested in his abusive regime, but the New York Post's Steve Dunleavy today suggested an economic response: a boycott of all things French and German.

"Let's see how fast Jacques Chirac, the president of the whine and cheese club, and Gerhard Schroeder, the German leader whose people enjoy a united Berlin thanks to President Ronald Reagan, react to that one," Dunleavy wrote.

[Brytani]

Let me fill you in on something, you ungrateful French poodle - Europe, especially Germany and France can NEVER repay the US for what this country and the people that live in have and continue to do for them.

[cicero's_son]

Europe, especially Germany and France can NEVER repay the US for what this country and the people that live in have and continue to do for them.

Oh really? Then why should they even bother to try?

Such magnanimity.

[Brytani]

Nobody is asking them to try. Our military gave a sigh of relief when they heard the French were (once again) refusing to send their troops into foxholes with them.

What they do need to do is stop supporting dictorial, terrorist and stop their attempts to keep the US and our real allies from taking them out.

Even an attack on France (remember their oil tanker a few months ago?) wasn't enough to get them interested in fighting terrorism. Fine, let them sit back as usual and let the big boys handle things, instead of acting like spoiled children upset that the grownups won't listen to their every whine and pout.

[general_re]

...the capital of "pink ballets"...

How odd. I know someone else who is prone to massive conspiracy theories featuring the "pink ballets". Shall we discuss Marc Dutroux and the Belgian royal family? I've little doubt we can tie them into all this with nothing more than a bit of creative brainstorming...

[St.Chuck]

It is not in our best interest for congressmen, from whatever party, to join the cacophany of Francophobic hostility. Applying nefarious motives to their hesitancy and attributing cowardice or some other flaw to France's national character may calm a sense of frustration, but it will do nothing to aid in the articulation of our aims in the middle east. Our alliances with France and Germany are important ones, and should not be broken over a disagreement over Iraqi policy. Our country's leaders engaging in this unproductive, disrespectful type of rhetoric (Rumsfeld included) do nothing to further our goals, but rather, France bashing has a tendency to submerge what really needs to be communicated. I would like to see France and Germany by our side, and am confident they will, but for now the anger and resentment should be channelled toward our oh-so-real enemies out there (and in our midst).

[St.Chuck]

Our country is enriched and blessed by your presence.

As is this forum by yours.

[timestax]

The so called "leaders" of France and Germany are acting very bazarre!!

[syriacus]

Considering that all this is coming out of Brussels--

I was thinking Brussels might make a good home for the UN.

The US could remodel its UN buildings as Museums of Modern History. (MOMH) Dioramas about wars, genocides, dictators and heroic leaders would find plenty of room there.

It would be somewhat like the Smithsonian, but perhaps show more about Hitler, Stalin, Mao and their collaborators.