France and Germany want us to fail!
By tankertodd Posted in User Blogs — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Here's the link to the Financial Times story (thanks Drudge!)
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/36048bf8-0ff7-11d9-ba62-00000e2511c8.html
French and German government officials say they will not significantly increase military assistance in Iraq even if John Kerry, the Democratic presidential challenger, is elected on November 2.
This demonstrates the nonsense argument that if Kerry is elected our "allies" will join in the Iraq War. It is not in their (myopic) interest to join the effort. They are likely interested to see us fail hoping that our military and thus economic influence becomes reduced, thus giving their stagnant economies have a slightly better shot at competing with us. France, Russia and Germany were doing great business with ol' Saddam Hussein. Now that pro-Americans are running the show in Iraq, I'd guess that the chances of any big French contracts are slim, but if the Iraqi government fails, who knows?
I absolutely agree that France and Germany, and let's just call this the way it really is, FRANCE, would never help us in Iraq. The Iraq question is only a small portion of the overall problem we have with France. The Chirac government has consistently opposed any US foriegn policy initiative over the past 40 years. Consider de Gaulle's withdrawal from NATO's command structure, or the denial of flyover rights during the '86 Libya crisis. France is in the middle of a serious identity crisis, looking for power, prestige, without really working for it. They have a history in the Sudan, what are they doing? What can the do?
The jealousy of wanting to project power and not having the power to project are the cornerstone of France's active role in countering the United States.