France's foreign minister has made some very interesting statements about the United States. Here is the gist of what he said
PARIS — Bernard Kouchner, the foreign minister of France, said Tuesday that whoever succeeds Bush in the White House will have to restore the United States' battered image and standing overseas [...].
[...]Kouchner said the United States will never be the country it was before the Bush presidency and would have to work to repair its reputation, especially since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. [...] He added that, although it will take time, the new president will have “many means to re-establish the image” of a country whose reputation is suffering. [...]
"We have to talk with our enemies," he said.
I especiallyi like that last statement. Talk is all the French actually seem willing to do and this is not the first time. Remember that little bit of history called WWII, now before you start telling me to get over it and times are different hear me out.
Consider this point:
Hitler started to re-arm Germany and in 1935 he re-introduced conscription (the recruiting of all young, able men into the army). This was against the terms of the Versailles Treaty. Britain, France and Italy condemned Germany's actions but did nothing to stop her.
Yes I know Italy was a bad boy later on but still the two leading world powers talked and did nothing.
And this piont:
the Rhineland area it was to be a 'demilitarised' zone. But in 1936 Hitler marched troops into the Rhineland. The French had a much bigger army than the Germans and could have driven the German troops out. But the French army took no action.
And this point:
when Hitler marched troops into Austria, Britain and France only protested.
And a final point"
Neville Chamberlain, [...] (British)Prime Minister in 1937, was determined that Europe should not be dragged into another world war. He wanted to find out what Hitler wanted and if necessary, give it to him in order to maintain peace. This was the policy, popular at the time known as appeasement. Hitler told Chamberlain that once the question of the Sudetenland was settled he had 'no further territorial ambitions Europe'. Britain and France therefore persuaded Czechoslovakia to hand over the Sudetenland to Germany in order to maintain peace in Europe Hitler had lied.
Action is often neccesary to prevent larger problems later down the road. Problems that may or may not be caused by previous actions such as the Versaiille treaty being a big part of what brought about WWII.
The problem with the French is they only care about themselves, it is not their population being poison gassed, it is not their leader who refuses to allow UN inspectors unfettered access, it is not there leader that ignores every UN sanction making that form of diplomacy useless and it is not their people suffering needlessly.
Do we need to talk? absolutely! but to the extent that things get completely out of hand.
When is the right time to take action? I am not sure and I don't think anyone can really ever know before the action is taken. Because of this we must ask ourselves is the action we are taking making positive contributions and not just to us, like the selfish French, but to those we are helping.
Consider the progress that France and liberals want us to ignore:
Pessimists have been repeatedly wrong about the prospects for postwar political progress in Iraq.
They doubted that the Iraqis would finish writing an interim constitution on time in 2003;
they doubted that sovereignty could be transferred to an interim Iraqi government by that constitution’s deadline in 2004;
they doubted that elections could be conducted on the constitution’ ambitious timetable, in January 2005.
They were wrong on all counts.
One last point about progress in Iraq:
Although critics impatiently complain about its slow pace, Iraq is making much faster progress in standing up an elected government than Germany or Japan did following World War II. Given the tremendous damage inflicted on Iraqi civil society by more than three decades of dictatorship, the Iraqis are doing remarkably well in forging a national consensus among the Shiite Arab majority, Sunni Arabs, Kurds, and other minority groups with a long history of mutual distrust.
I don't want any countries soldiers or citizens dieing in a war and yet there are circumstances that demand such sacrifices. France only wants to talk which means ZERO sacrifice on their part and continued sacrifice on the part of others they refuse to help.
Link to French foreign minister story
Link to before WWII information
Link to progress in Iraq article