NYC Letter: A Reminder About French Vision

First this.

PRESENCE OF U.S. TROOPS ADDS CALM

BAGHDAD August 3, 2006 (WT) - Iraqis living in Baghdad's most violent neighborhoods have been able to leave their homes safely for the first time in months, as American foot patrols moved in as part of a beefed-up security plan.

"Everybody knows that if Americans are there, then it is safe," said one young man who had just brought his pregnant wife home from the hospital.

The militias in his southern Baghdad neighborhood left the moment the Americans arrived on Monday, he said.

"There were no clashes with the militias because of the heavy power the Americans have," he said, asking that his name not be used. "They just come in and stay in place and people start going out and feeling free."

Sunni Mohammed Omar, who acknowledged that he hated the American soldiers accused of raping a teenage Iraqi girl, said he was happy the U.S. troops had come to the neighborhood.

"We thought we were going to die," he said. "The Americans came and it brought us hope. The Americans are much more fair that the Iraqis."

France is in the news again masterminding eternal peace on the Lebanese border. The above report put us in mind of France's geopolitical vision. One of France's objections to the liberation of Iraq was that it would destabilize the region. France knew better than any the limits and defects of the aboriginals, and Iraqis simply weren't capable of democracy.

After the Iraqi army in the field was defeated by coalition forces, France demanded the swift removal of these troops and the restoration of full sovereignty to Iraq.

FRANCE SAYS IRAQ SOVEREIGNTY REQUIRES US WITHDRAWL [SIC]

PARIS October 25, 2003 (AFP) - The withdrawl of US troops from Iraq would be "a real signal of the return of sovereignty" for the violence-wracked country, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said Monday.

Such a withdrawl should be discussed during an international conference on Iraq to be held in Egypt on November 22-23, Barnier told French television news channel LCI.

A solution to bring stability to Iraq can only be brought about "by negotiation, discussion, a political process, by elections and, at a given moment, by the departure of international troops, notably the American ones," he said.

Well, of course, no one listens to France. So the troops stayed put.

France also demanded that Iraqi terrorists be given a tuffet at the above conference.

Any international conference on the conflict in Iraq ought to discuss the question of whether the US-led forces should withdraw from the country, and should also include representatives of the armed opposition, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said on Monday. ... Barnier said that any conference should include "different communities and countries of the region as well as all (Iraqi) political groups, including those that have chosen the path of armed resistance."

Thank God, no one listens to France.

What is obvious is how stupid these French demands were. Obvious then, obvious now. Having failed to stop the liberation of Iraq, France appeared hell-bent on securing the failure of a democratic Iraq. If a democratic Iraq fails, well, what are the aspirations of the newly liberated compared to France chalking up an I-told-you-so?

But nobody listens to France anyway.

These are the same folks that the press gushes are the Brainiacs of peace in Lebanon. One of the ideas floated by Jack is for "a comprehensive political accord...between Israel and Hezbollah". Does Jack even read the newspapers? Hizballah is a sock puppet of Iran. The only accord Iran will entertain with Israel is for Israel voluntarily to march itself into the sea.

Let's hope no one is listening.