Straw takes war to the French in vitriolic United Nations tirade

The Daily Telegraph ^ | March 8, 2003 | Marcus Warren and Robin Gedye

[BCrago66]

In the late 90's, when I was momentarily rich refore the Internet bubble burst, I really thought it was, to use the phrase from that article, "The End of History." I thought that the travel and communications revolusions meant that it didn't matter so much what the past history of a country was, because now the individuals within those countries were empowered to choose to impliment the best idea: Liberal Democracy.

Boy was I wrong. Today, we see nations reverting to form. Britain and USA: Freeing oppessed people. German and France: Dictator-loving and dictator-appeasement. The pull of national culture proved just too damn strong.

Oh well. I'm just happy that we forces of good will win out.

[Torie]

Average Americans don't hate the UN. You are projecting. Average Americans are more sensible than that. You work with the UN when you can, you appreciate have some international rules is imperative to have a global system that is less brutish than otherwise, but do what you must when it has lost its way, or a veto from a recalitrant deflects it from its mission. A calm patience backed up by ultimate resolve is the ticket when it comes to international affairs. The hot headed are ill suited to be players in this arena.

[TheSpottedOwl]

I saw it!!!! Jack Straw rocks! Intelligent, fact based asskicking at its finest. Did you see him grab a handful of Hans Blix' paperwork and dismiss it?

Hey MadIvan, though I may be a little pissed off about that problem with Irish occupation, there is no country I'd rather be allies with. You know it would be nice if Mr. Straw saw this thread, so he knows that he did damn good today :)

[Spruce]

I was trying to pay close attention to the background after Mr. Straw's speech. There was a document handed to all members at the end of the speech. It caused quite a stir! Hmmm...

[RummyChick]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,910080,00.html

"Mr Straw's performance made him a hero in the American delegation"

[Torie]

Straw said what needed to be said. I particularly salute him that this whole charade only has a facsimile of verisimilitude because the US and UK are doing the heavy lifting of offering up the iron fist, and that one cannot hold a clenched first indefinitely. The body is not wired that way.

[paul51]

This is Straw's finest hour

Agreed. He was outstanding

[lizbet]

Bill Clinton can't be Secretary-0General of the U.N. unless they change the rules and allow him to become that. I hope that the U.N. would show some backbone and not change the rules. But who knows?

[Dog Gone]

Okay, I've been pretty hard on Straw for the last couple of years, but that was an impressive and impassioned speech. Kudos!

[RummyChick]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12709416&method=full&siteid=50143

BLAIR: I'LL DEFY TRIPLE UN WAR VETO

[paul51]

Anyone have an email address for Mr. Straw? We should let him know we support him.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Average Americans don't hate the UN. You are projecting. Average Americans are more sensible than that.

I learned to hate the UN at my mother's knee. I learned to hate and distrust France after my father told me about his french vacation courtesy of WWII.

SCREW THE UN!!!!

[lewislynn]

I just finished watching the re-run on our C-span. Absolutely beautiful! Straw slapped them upside their heads and made an absolute fool of the stuffed shirt frog.

Speaking of beautiful, thanks again for all the information you've been posting here for us including the one about that new air line.

[mickie]

Breaking news on Greta's show.
Bill Gertz said the latest news is that France as recently as Jan.'3, has sold parts for Sadaams fighter jets (and I believe he said nuclear weapons) thru a third party.
Anyone else see the show?

[Constitution Day]

Straw's lecture to the petulant children at the UNSC - particularly the unctuous Villepin - was masterful and full of righteous anger.

MadIvan, if you see a transcript of his remarks, I'd appreciate a ping.

CD

[section9]

Here, here!

But let's be somewhat realistic. While we want to have some structures for conflict resolution, international copyright law, and whatnot, there is the sad fact that the United Nations has become a gasbag shop on all too many occaisions.

Bush and Blair are pushing the system to the limit. I strongly suspect that this was the smart thing to do. Going outside of the UN framework would have made it problematic for George Bush to secure his Congressional Authorization last year.

Now that we're in the framework, we can wave 1441 in their faces and dare them to veto. I suspected that Powell and Straw wanted to go for an early vote. They're smart guys, especially Straw. When people have to actually sit down and vote, they tend to back the strongest horse.

Even now there is second thoughts among the political elites in France, Germany, and even Russia. They know Bush is going ahead. The question is, how do they break in gracefully so they can have a seat at the peace conference.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Cathryn Crawford]

http://www.britainusa.com/iraq/xq/asp/SarticleType.1/Article_ID.3340/qx/articles_show.htm

There's the transcript if you still want it...

[Slip18]

Jack Straw did well.

Bump to you, Ivan.

[Mo1]

The stakes were raised further by a French proposal that the leaders of the security council nations should go to New York to decide between war and peace, in a vote expected next week.

I read this wrong the first time I read it

The Leaders?? .. What is France up to now?

[Spruce]

If that is true, that makes this a whole different ballgame.