Does the US administration owe an apology to the French ?

vanesch

Ok, provocative title. The point is that during and shortly after the decision to go to war in Iraq, there was an organized "French bashing" by the US administration, mainly because vile Chirac and De Villepin tried by all means to stop the brave US from going to war. Besides obvious different political and economical interests on both sides, the main french argument was that the war would cause a lot of trouble and not make the world safer.

With some hindsight, should the US administration offer some form of apologies for the "hate for everything French", and recognize that their viewpoint wasn't so silly after all (and maybe they should have taken it more into account), or stand by their initial statements ?

I know of course that not only the French were against the war, but also the Germans, Russians, Chinese and so on ; but only the French - to my understanding - were targetted in an organized hate campaign.

Burnsys

Damn, i wanted to vote yes, but i mistake the button!!!! Sorry...

Smurf

It might help international opinion. And the US could use any help as they can get in that area right now.

El Hombre Invisible

Is there any evidence that the French-bashing was triggered by the Bush administration? I'd have thought any contrary thinking to the infallible leader of the free world would be enough to drive a significant portion of the US public to foam at the mouth with frenzied hatred without any hinting from the government. The only thing I can think of was Rumsfeld's "I'm interested in new Europe, not old Europe" quote, but that hardly counts.

kat

Hahahahahahaha!

PerennialII

Rather than a targeted apology a minute display of regret and the drift would start closing. Wouldn't mind a apology but since when has anyone been sorry for their doings in this day and age.

vanesch

There was also the famous "let's forgive the Russians, ignore the Germans, and punish the French" by miss Rice, no ?

And the famous "freedom fries"

And...

(ok, small hints from the Boss ?)

Burnsys

that was patetic....

vanesch

patatic ?

Smurf

I think he was going for Pathetic.

The Smoking Man

Is sepuku out of the question?

El Hombre Invisible

Rice said that? What a cow! I never liked her after her whole "Your politics are yours, our politics are ours" response to Bush & co leaving the UK holding the WMD baby. Are you sure that's a valid quote? How the hell can a politician of her status get away with such blatent racism?

Was "freedom fries" an administration jibe? I thought it was the clever American people who thought that one up. (I read somewhere that French fries were named after a person whose surname was French, not France itself - I really hope that's true!)

vanesch

Just after a bit of googling:
http://www.detnews.com/2004/politics/0411/16/-6184.htm

Other stuff from the good old days:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110003222

vanesch

I think that apologies would be accepted over here

Smurf

It is, but that wasn't the point. The former name of the Freedom Bird wasn't named after the country either. Fries are from Belgium, not France.

Pengwuino

No. The French were involved in illegal arms and illicit oil purchasing. This is why they were against the war. The Russians and Germans also had similar illegal contracts out. The Chinese are the Chinese, what can you say. The French government owes the world an appology for lieing to the world about its reasons to protest the war.

Smurf

That is hilarious! What a dumbass.