Free Republic

Now that France has emerged as a leading critic of U.S. policy toward Iraq, a lot of pundits and editorial cartoonists are having a field day lampooning France's ''cowardice'' and proclivity to ''surrender.'' The supposed evidence for this slur is France's defeat in World War II. Why is that, exactly? No one would dream of sneering at Poland, Greece, Yugoslavia, Norway or any of the other nations overcome by Germany in the war. So what makes France fair game? France's critics need to be aware of some historical facts. At the beginning of World War II, Germany possessed the world's...

AP World Politics Chirac expresses condolences over loss of space shuttle Columbia Sat Feb 1, 3:18 PM ET PARIS - President Jacques Chirac on Saturday expressed his "profound emotion" over the loss of the space shuttle Columbia, saying France felt solidarity with Americans and Israelis over the disaster. Chirac, in a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites), said the shuttle's loss was a "terrible tragedy," and he asked Bush to pass on his condolences to the victims' families. Columbia broke apart in flames 60,000 meters (200,000 feet) over Texas, killing all seven astronauts aboard minutes...

French astronaut says Columbia should no longer have been used PARIS (AFP) Feb 01, 2003 A French astronaut who took part in an earlier US shuttle mission and has criticised current space programmes said Saturday the shuttle Columbia which disintegrated should have been out of use long ago. Patrick Baudry said on French television he was "up in arms" over the disaster. "I think the shuttle should have been taken out of use long ago," Baudry said: "It's a magnificent machine that the Americans developed. But extremely dangerous." The Frenchman charged that the Columbia was limited in its capacity, and...

I am very shocked by the current propaganda against France and, in a minor extent, Germany and the EU, which is developing on the American web and media. As we are some "old Europe" countries, let me tell you that some elements of this propaganda remind me of the atmosphere that existed between European peoples of 1914-18 : the Frenchman is the USA's Jew, the traitor, the coward, which plants knives in the back. These are paranoid ideas. Bush has declared "you are with us or you are against us"… your enemies are "evil's axis"… A deeply thought political theory...