France is at it again.....and Bush is wavering

igloo · May 28

RUNNING OUT THE CLOCK

By RALPH PETERS

May 28, 2004 -- IT'S easy to tell when terrorists and thugs are near defeat: They ask for a cease-fire.

It's just as simple to tell when the diplomats have overruled our military: We agree to the proposed cease-fire.

And stop short of victory again.

Despite President Bush's assurances at the U.S. Army War College on Monday night, we still don't have a detailed plan to get us past the June 30 transfer of power. But if we don't have a strategy, our enemies â€” in Iraq, the greater Middle East and Europe â€” certainly do.

From Muqtada al-Sadr to Jacques Chirac, they hope to run out the clock before we can win.

Sadr's insurrection turned disastrous for him. His shabby legions are broken or dead, his influence has fallen from minor to trivial status, and he could hear a slamming cell door in his future (maybe those photos from Abu Ghraib had an upside, after all). So, emulating the terrorists in Fallujah, he struck a deal to save himself from our troops.

So much for our refusal to negotiate with terrorists. Our diplomats and bureaucrats are tumbling over each other to cut deals with those who kill our soldiers, slaughter civilians and hope to derail the future of Iraq. Congratulations, guys.

Meanwhile, the pathological America-haters of Old Europe have returned to their pre-war efforts to frustrate our hopes by turning Iraq back over to bully-boys willing to cut deals with French and German companies â€” and who'll drop any investigations into the oil-for-food scandal even quicker than we appear ready to do.

Of course, China wants us to fail. No-brainer there. And Russia wants a sympathetic â€” authoritarian â€” government in Baghdad. But what about our French and German "friends," before whom Bush is on his knees begging for Security Council votes?

The Germans are madly anti-American, but far too cowardly to oppose the United States on their own. The core of the problem is France. French hatred of America is equally pathological, but it's also coldly calculated for maximum damage.

Paris wants to dictate the terms of any new United Nations resolution regarding Iraq. It's willing to wreck the hopes of 26 million people to spite Washington and make a couple of euros. The French want to design the world, but they can't even build an airport terminal â€” indeed, the recent collapse of that brand-new, $90 million passenger terminal at Charles de Gaulle airport is a perfect metaphor for French policy. They've wrecked everything they've touched.

Now they know exactly what to do in Iraq: Establish a firm deadline for the withdrawal of Coalition troops.

What would such a deadline achieve? It would guarantee the terrorists and Baathist assassins that they only have to hang on, that the Americans and British will be gone and la belle France will ensure that those uppity Kurds and any Arabs foolish enough to believe in democracy and human rights will be served up on a platter to the Middle East's latest consortium of murderers.

The strategy of the terrorists in Fallujah, of Sadr's ragtag murderers and of our French "allies" is exactly the same: Limit the number of quarters in the game, then call as many time-outs as necessary to let Team Terror recover whenever the Coalition offense threatens to score.

The administration's response? A ref from the United Nations. Guess who's going to get called "out of bounds"?

What happened to the decisive George W. Bush? The man who deposed a gruesome dictator? Who promised freedom to the Iraqi people? Where's the president who had the courage to stand up to the bloodsoaked continent that gave us Auschwitz, Treblinka and that triumph of civilization, Vichy France? Where's the Bush who believed in taking the War on Terror to our deadly enemies?

Our president doesn't resemble Bill Clinton, who surrendered before he fought. Nor does he resemble LBJ, befuddled by his neo-cons (sorry, I meant "whiz kids"). Above all, Bush resembles Woodrow Wilson, who rescued civilization from German barbarism, then found himself outmaneuvered by the Euro-gang at Versailles.

Will Bush surrender to Europe, as his plenipotentiaries surrendered to the Baathists in Fallujah and now deny our Army its hard-earned victory against Sadr? Don't the lost lives of our soldiers mean anything to him? Will we surrender all we've gained for a passing nod of support from the United Nations, an organization as vicious as it is corrupt and inept? (Thank God it is inept, or the viciousness would be far more worrisome.)

Do we hand over the Kurds to the pan-Arabists? Do we let yesterday's strongmen, from Mubarak to the Saudis, decide the future of Iraq? After all our promises?

Has our president's courage failed because he faces an electoral contest against a spineless man who believes in nothing? It's painful enough to despair for Iraq. One begins to despair for America.

In Robert Bolt's magnificent (if historically inaccurate) play, "A Man For All Seasons," Thomas More confronts a bureaucrat who betrayed him in return for a provincial stewardship. More says, "Why, Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world . . . But for Wales!"

Is Bush willing to betray the future of Iraq, the War on Terror, America's security, and the sacrifice of our soldiers' lives to win in November?

By assigning greater importance to an election than to the war, Bush is apt to lose both. The winners will be the terrorists and the forces of repression.

Even the French will lose, although they're too blind to see it. The terrorists are coming for them, too, and can't be bought off. God's murderers won't even allow them a new Vichy regime.

Our war in Iraq is winnable, and the peace in Iraq is winnable. But you can't win any game if you fold at half-time.

Ralph Peters is the author of "Beyond Baghdad: Postmodern War and Peace."

normalnoises · May 28

If it wasn't for the French

Ambroise ParÃ© (1510-1590): surgical instruments

How would our hospitals as well as military hospitals and the MASH units be able to function without surgical tools? We'd be still using saws, just like the civil war if it wasn't for the French? Since you neo-cons are so into "boycott France" you can throw these into the nearest dumpster.

Nicolas Joseph Cugnot: steam-driven car (1769)

How would our military be able to mobilize without armored divisions, tank divisions, ambulances and those Humvees you see out in the desert and in the urban areas in Iraq if it wasn't for the French? Since you neo-cons are so into "boycott France", you can make the junk yards lots of money by junking your cars.

Joseph M.Jacquard - first industrially applicable automatic loom (late 18th century)

Where would our clothing industry be without this French invention. How would the soldiers uniforms be made without this innovative machine invented by the French? If it wasn't for the French, we'd be still using foot powered spinning wheels. Since you neo-cons are so into "boycott France" you may as well shut down all the clothing mills, boycott clothing and run around bare-naked.

Louis Lenormand: the parachute (1783)

How would the US Army be able to create airborne divisions, jump out of planes, like they did in WW2 over Normandy and other campaigns without this French invention? What about the military air shows where paratroopers demonstrate their skills. What about all those sky divers who do it for fun and competition? Going by your "boycott France" logic, you may as well eliminate the US Army Airborne division, outlaw parachuting and burn all parachutes.

Nicolas Appert - invented our canning process involving bactericide by boiling (1810)

How canning companies and food processing companies survive without this invention? Going by your logic, you may as boycott and shut down these companies.

RenÃ© T.H. Laennec - invented the stethoscope (1816)

How would doctors be able to check your pulse without one of these? I can also tie this in with the hospital thing I mention earlier. Should we throw these into the dumpster along with surgical tools because it's a French invention since you neo-cons are so into "boycott France"?

Louis Braille: printed language for the blind (1829)

Should we ban braille and deny the blind the right to read because the French invented this also? Going by your "boycott France logic, we may as well.

French physicist Jean Foucault: the gyroscope (1852)

Now how many of you neo-cons ever play with one of these scientific objects?

Henri Giffard, engineer: first successful steam-powered steerable airship (1852)

In case you're wondering where the idea of the invention of the airplane came from. If it wasn't for the French, The US military would'nt have fighter planes, bombers and there would not be an Air Force One to tote the President around and there would never be an Air Force.

Raymond Gaston PlantÃ©: the lead-acid battery (1860)

How would our portable radios, laptop computers, flashlights, automobiles, military mobil units, military communications among other things be able to work without this invention?

Pierre Lallement: rotary-pedal bicycle (1865)

I know you neo-cons enjoy riding one of these through Central Park or anywhere else, or even going mountian biking or even race. If it wasn't for the French, you would not be able to do these things. So since you're so into "boycott France" you may as well throw these out for the next trash collection.

Chemist MÃ¨ge MouriÃ©s: margarine (1869)

The alternative to butter for those who are cholestoral conscience.

Charles Cros (& Edison) simultaneously invented the phonograph (1877)

Where would the Recording industry be without the French? NON-EXISTANT! SInce you're so into "boycott France", start rummaging through your music collection and trash all your vynal albums and CDs and while you're at it, trash your entire home entertainment system.

LumiÃ¨re brothers: first movie camera (1895)

which later evolved into the video cam as well as digital cameras. WHere would our entertainment industry be without this invention? NOWHERE!! Going by your "boycott France" logic we may as well tear down all our theatres and ban entertainment altogether.

Paul Cornu (1907): short flight of first helicopter prototype

Our military would be useless without one of these. If it wasn't for the French, the Military would'nt have Apache helicopters and other types. Really you neo-cons. Since you're so into "boycott France" should we ban aviation altogether?

Edouard Benedictus: the process for making laminated safety glass (1909)

Our cars have this kind of glass. So do our military vehicles.

Henri-M. Coanda: turbine engine airplane (1910)

Again, where would our military air units be without the French? NON-EXISTANT!!

George de Mestral: the hook and loop fabric fastener system, Velcro (1941)

Go ahead, rip the velcro from your clothing and baggage as well as everything else velcro is used on. The French invented it, right? So you may as well as throw this into the trash.

Emile Gagnan and Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau: "Aqua Lung" for scuba diving (1943)

Where would the US Navy be without this French invention? What about underwater explorers as well as recreational divers if it wasn't for the French? Should we ban scuby diving because you're so into "boycott France"?

FranÃ§ois Gernelle: the first non-kit computer based on a microprocessor (1973)

Philippe Kahn: the software or operating system for the above microcomputer

Roland Moreno: the concept of installing silicon chip computer memory on a plastic card (1974)

French launch Minitel (1980), first major public interactive computer network

If it wasn't for this invention, you would not have a home computer or a laptop to play on. So going by your "boycott France" logic, we may as well trash our computers.

Robert Cailliau and Jean-FranÃ§ois Groff, Swiss francophone co-inventors of the WWW with Tim Berners-Lee (1992)

ATM asynchronous transfer mode - high-speed internet (not sure of details)

Where would the internet be without this invention?

Where would this website be without this invention?

NON EXISTANT!!

Where would you be posting messages on an internet message board without this invention?

NOWHERE!!

Going by your logic we may as well outlaw computers and the internet, so if it wasn't for the French, you would not be able to get on your home or laptop computer because they would not exist and you would not be able to come to clubplanet.com to post your neocon insults on this messageboard when you're proven wrong because the internet would be NONEXISTANT!

So do you still want to boycott the French?

normalnoises · May 28