Tom Friedman comes to the only conclusion possible from recent events. France is not an ally of the United States. It’s an enemy. Their resentment is helping to undermine the cause of stability and progress in Iraq, and their machinations are doing immeasurable damage to the future of European-American relations. Money quote:
If France were serious, it would be using its influence within the European Union to assemble an army of 25,000 Eurotroops, and a $5 billion reconstruction package, and then saying to the Bush team: Here, we’re sincere about helping to rebuild Iraq, but now we want a real seat at the management table. Instead, the French have put out an ill-conceived proposal, just to show that they can be different, without any promise that even if America said yes Paris would make a meaningful contribution.
But then France has never been interested in promoting democracy in the modern Arab world, which is why its pose as the new protector of Iraqi representative government – after being so content with Saddam’s one-man rule – is so patently cynical.
Worse than cynical. Malevolent. I’ve been reading Peter Stothard’s lively book about the most critical month in Tony Blair’s premiership, Thirty Days. What really struck me about the internal debates in the British cabinet last March was the simple assumption of French malice and cynicism at every juncture. And this from a bunch of committed Europhiles. And it’s getting worse.
The Dish 