France Dismisses U.S. Call for More Troops in Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030822/wl_nm/iraq_france_dc&cid=574&ncid=1480

PARIS (Reuters) - France on Friday dismissed a U.S. effort to get more nations to send soldiers to back up its troops in Iraq (news - web sites), saying an international force should instead be sent with a United Nations mandate.

Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin urged the coalition powers to switch from "a logic of occupation to a logic of sovereignty" in Iraq.

"We can't make do with adjusting or enlarging the current plan," he told the daily Le Monde.

"The right thing would be to bring into play a true international force under the mandate of the United Nations. Sovereignty is a matter of urgency," Villepin added.

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[lanlady]

1. nobody can say "f*** off"

like the French.

[WildClarySage]

2. What???

You mean the French aren't going to kiss our asses? We're not going to get away with calling them "CheeseEating SurrenderMonkeys" and still get them to pony up when we want? Shocking, I tells ya, shocking.

And good for them!!!

[TioDiego]

3. I was raised not to be partial to the French...

But these a**holes actually have me on their side. Dang it. NO! Double Dang it! There. I said and I'm not taking it back, either!

[Pocho]

4. AND BUSH FRIES

[David Zephyr]

25. Ha!

Your the best, Pocho! :hi:

[screembloodymurder]

28. I'd like to see a toon w/ Bush asking for French troops

and one of those fries stuck up his derriere.

[maggrwaggr]

32. Don't you mean "Freedom Troops?"

God bless Amerikuh

[Sweetpea]

34. that actually made me hungry.

[femmecahors]

5. La Belle France! Yippee! Yahoo! Tres Bien!

Don't hate the French. You're denying yourself Paradise on earth.

It's wonderful here, the people, the food, the wine, the cheese, the scenery, NO BUSH, no hormones in the beef, no Monsanto grain.

Tous est parfait.

I'm thinking of asking for asylum.

Bonjour.

[0007]

8. Hey you freepers!

The Dixie Chicks are drawing record breaking crowds and selling CD's like hot cakes.

Even got a big crowd in Austin, Texas when they played there.

[TahitiNut]

9. Even when "Fermé Août" ...

... it's "viva la France!" (Je suis un Parisien d'cour.) (Et je parl pas Francais.) :silly:

[BonjourUSA]

18. Thank you, but

"Tout est parfait" = "All is perfect". The perfection doesn't exist, even if this proverb exists in many european countries : "To be happy like God in France".

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Turley]

35. Dead Grandparents (deleted post)

I thought it was entirely relevant in response to the resident Francophiles who can see no wrong in anything France does.

Delete this if you choose but all is NOT well in France these days.

[Mari333]

6. we have to get those arrogant bastards out of the WH

Recall, Impeach...anything

In the meantime, our kids die in the sand.

www.bringthemhomenow.com

[joeybee12]

7. I'd mve to France IF

they promised no more heatwaves.

I wonder what it's like to get the last laugh--certainly dumbo and his murderers aren't!

[TahitiNut]

10. Considérez la région de Jura ou les Alpes français.

:shrug:

[joeybee12]

13. Understood what you said, but can't reply in French

went through the Alps on the way to Switzerland last year. Ah, c'est magnifique!

[TahitiNut]

14. Yup, sure is.

I spent nearly 4 months working in France many years ago and was blown away by the beauty of so many areas ... and the French Alps (around Col du Petit St. Bernard) was no exception.

I developed an impression that has never left me. During my time in Europe (mostly France but including Germany, the UK, Belgium, and Switzerland), I saw people who, together, made a home of their lands. Even though born'n'raised in the US, I see something a bit different in the way we Americans inhabit our lands -- and the best analogy I can come up with is: locusts. :shrug:

(I don't know if that can convey what I see to anyone who doesn't already sense this distinction.)

[MaineDem]

11. J'aime Dominique

He's one sexy diplomat!

And I love his country's stance on this!!!

[TahitiNut]

12. C'est vrai?

[leftchick]

23. how do you say...

Yummy in French? :crazy:

Thanks for the pic TN!

[BonjourUSA]

29. Miam !

or "Miam, Miam".

[tedzbear]

15. Viva la France!

"Pakistan's ambassador, Munir Akram, hinted diplomatically that the coalition should bolster its own force before asking other countries to make up the difference. Others were more blunt.

"It sends us the message, 'We don't need to spill more American blood, we need foreign blood,' " one European diplomat said."

---Los Angeles Times


Could that one European diplomat be French?????????? Ooooolala!

[German-Lefty]

16. Awww, yeah

And you know you guys ain't seeing no German troops either until Dubya bends over kisses is own ass (or get's voted out) and asks the UN for a resolution.

Sure they may buy some small coutries to get a PR Gesture (like Poland, Albania), but they'd have to give serious behind the scenes consesions, and who can trust the US under Bush to deliver as promissed.

I feel bad though for the troops and the Iraqies. This may not be pretty. :-(

[dudeness]

17. diplomacy certainly sounds like french word..

bush and his cohorts including blair have been taught a valuable lesson in it..the noose is tightening around their necks my friends..

[kskiska]

19. Whatever it is…

the French have a word for it. And it sounds so much better when they say it.

[David__77]

20. Again, thank you France.

for reiterating national sovereignty for the Iraqi people. France knows about occupation, and opposes it. Let the U.S. pay for occupation and reconstruction. This nation and Britain are responsible, and this nation must pay.

[PurityOfEssence]

21. It's no different than what Pershing did in 1917

The French and British wanted to grab the U.S. troops as soon as they arrived and take command of them. Pershing pissed off everyone by refusing, and took the time to organize, train and then send them to the front under U.S. command.

Why should anyone send their young boys to combat under another nation's command? Do they trust us to not use their boys in hopeless situations? I wouldn't trust us an inch. Would you want your country to incur more wrath from the radical Muslims? Would you want to spend the money? Would you want to establish the precedent of doing whatever the U.S. wants? What unbounded arrogance on our part to insult anyone who won't willingly join our greed crusade as an inferior participant.

[symbolman]

22. On a lighter note

"pResident GWBush today signed an executive order reinstating the words French for Freedom. Tho only to be used in conjuction with the word FRIES it was hailed as a leap in Diplomacy and is expected to save untold American lives."

[PATRICK]

24. Strange

Most of the press in a very cynical and jeering fashion openly said the French and everyone else would jump on board for the oil. One presumption of course was our power to create a perefect success out of a land grab. Now we are still posturing and begging the French and reality still hurts.

A monstrous dish of "corbeau" goes uneaten.

[BelgianMadCow]

26. Dominique will be the reason

I will buy a french car next. Or a german of course :-)

Joking aside, if you look back at the timeline it was a call between Belgium's foreign minister and Dominique in which they agreed to veto NATO getting more involved which started the whole "Old Europe is not gonna roll over"-stance. Only after hearing these positions they germans joined.

I have never been more proud of my country than that day - and soon after I found DU, so I've stopped boycotting US products because I realised there is some sanity left.

If our government joins any military or peacekeeping action without UN mandate and UN control over Iraq's oil, I will be writing to our delegate in the EU parliament again & taking to the streets as hundred-thousands did before the war.

[robbedvoter]

30. Sovereignty - what a quaint notion - forgotten about it completely!

How does it work with "Preemption" - especially baseless preemption? Thanks, France (and milles baisees pour de Villepin)

[BonjourUSA]

31. Thank you for him

But the good spelling is : "mille baisers à de Villepin" ;-)

[John_H]

33. So THAT's how you say "go fuck yourself" in French!!!!

nt

[BonjourUSA]

36. "Va te faire foutre" in French

[Isere]

37. Or try this:

Va te faire enculer!

As for de Villepin, "il est a croquer." miam, miam....

If Bush had listened to Chirac before running off, helter-skelter, to Iraq, we wouldn't be in this mess, would we?

Nous sommes dans de beaux draps, as they say in Isere.

[BonjourUSA]

38. Sure, but the oil fever is the strongest

But the poor little guys in US army uniforms have nothing to do in this mess. I am always sad when I watch the fear in their eyes on french tv reports. All they are very young