Free Republic

Said White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer 'Ultimately, we will see what the French decide to do. They have have their position known at this point. But as the President engages in consultations, as the President presents the facts and the President listens, the President will also lead.'He rejected comments by a key United States defense advisor, Richard Perle, who reportedly said France was not the ally it once was. Perle is the head of the Defense Department Policy Review Board, which has an advisory but not a policy making role in the Administration.'President Bush knows that France is and will...

MIDI - OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING -- click on beaumorn.mid When the world is in trouble, they call us The great stench of appeasement appalls us We don't want advice from the French or the Krauts 'Cause we know what the defense of freedom's about We do not need Euro-weenies…time to put them on the shelf We do not need Euro-weenies…they can go Ritter themselves When we're needed, a stand we'll be taking Let the smelly French stick to wine making We don't want advice from the French or the Krauts 'Cause we know what the defense of...

BERLIN (AP) - They re-elected him only in September, but these days Germans who voted Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder back into office are letting their anger flow freely - workers, corporate bosses, even his political allies. Insurance salesman Guenter Pehnemann grouses about the tax hikes Schroeder said he wanted to avoid, then announced by the dozen after his re-election. Physiotherapist Claudia Muhlke supports Schroeder, but complains of a "chaotic" government with no apparent strategy for reviving the economy and keeping Germany's costly social safety net from going bust. The complaints echo those of millions of Germans whose loss of faith in...

The German historian whose book has sparked a debate over whether Winston Churchill was a war criminal for ordering the bombing of German cities yesterday challenged the British to re-examine their war history.And I challenge you to eat excrement and die, you sick twisted blighter - Ivan Jörg Friedrich, the author of Der Brand (The Fire: Germany Under Bombardment 1940-45), has said that the fire storm which consumed large parts of Hamburg and killed 45,000 people after bombing raids in July 1943 should have prompted Allied leaders to stop and reconsider tactics. The book's serialisation this week in the mass...