----- Original Message ----- From: "J. van Baardwijk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, March 14, 2003 2:21 PM Subject: Re: Commentary on French-bashing
> At 11:58 13-03-03 -0800, Gautam Mukunda wrote: > > >France has been protected by the United States for almost a century > >now. The moment it no longer needs that immediate protection - the > >overriding and _publicly stated_ goal of French policy becomes to weaken > >the United States. > > Not *weaken* it, but *contain* it, to prevent the US from becoming some > megapower that goes around telling everyone on the planet what to do, how > to do it, and when to it -- and sending its troops into any country that > refuses to obey America's orders. Horrid horrid orders like "don't take over the Middle East, too. " What could we be thinking. > >Meanwhile, Villepin claims that his goal is to protect American > >soldiers. That's absurd. > > If France can prevent the war from happening, than it *has* effectively > protected American soldiers. After all, when there is no war, the risk to a > soldier's life is significantly less than when that soldier goes into combat. At the price of American civilian lives. If the French had strongly supported sanctions for the last 11 years, then they would have grounds to stand on. Instead, they tried to free Hussein to do what he wants. They even tried to aid him in becoming a nuclear power. In short, an active powerful Hussein is considered a plus for French foreign policy goals. They actively support a brutal dictator. The reason is not that they need to protect themselves against a country that would take them over militarily, but that they need to protect their prestige against the horrors of American preeminence. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
