----- Original Message ----- From: "J. van Baardwijk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, March 14, 2003 4:50 PM Subject: Re: Commentary on French-bashing
> At 14:32 14-03-03 -0600, Dan Minette wrote: > > >[The French] actively support a brutal dictator. > > I think it's quite odd that the US suddenly seems it fit to criticise an > other country for supporting Saddam Hussein, when that very same US has > done the exact same thing... OK, lets look at the support. After Iran kidnapped American Embassy personnel and held them hostage, they proclaimed that they would lead the rest of Islam into a theocracy like theirs. At that time, the US had a slight tilt towards Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war. The logic was that Iraq posed less of a danger than Iran. The tilt was rather small, and involved sale of a very small amount of military equipment and, perhaps, a bit of information. France, on the other hand, activly supported Iraq's program to become a nuclear power. Then, when Iraq and the US alliance were at odds, France supported Iraq in its fight. The logical conclusion is that France favors Iraq's dictatorship over the US. The quesition is why? Another reasonable question, since you make a number of the points that France does, is do you? > And it's not like American companies haven't done business with Iraq since > the second Gulf War. Halliburton, anyone? Its true that a number American companies got around the US ban on doing business with Iraq by having their French subsidiaries conduct that business. France fought Clinton's efforts to stop this. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
