From my correspondent who keeps his eye on the French media:
The evening news on the popular French TV station TF1 led with Bush’s visit to Iraq today, and its Baghdad reporter referred to the “anti-American resistance” in explaining why the trip was so dangerous. http://www.tf1.fr (streaming video under “20h” at lower right of “News” box). Evidently, this term is catching on as the French expression for those who hope to drive the Americans out and bring Saddam back to power. You know, like the French resistance that fought so bravely against their Nazi occupiers in the last war.
I believe this expression is pretty new. I googled “resistance anti-Americaine” (both with and without the accent mark on “resistance” and with and without the hyphen) and turned up essentially nothing except an old Vietnam reference and a November 13 article in the Nouvelle Observateur entitled “Iraq with the Anti-American Guerillas,” which textually refers only to the “resistance” in careful quotation marks.
Well, that’s why I’ve always put the term “French Resistance” in quotation marks as well. Meanwhile, French reporters have photo evidence of the recent Baathist attack on a DHL plane. The French had been hanging with the Saddamites for a few days before the attack. No word on whether the missiles were also made in France.
EMAIL OF THE DAY: “As a fellow immigrant, I savored your musings about how Americans “resolve the nationalist dilemma.” May I add one little point beyond primary colors: This is the only country whose national anthem begins with a question and ends with a question. No bombast, no exhortation, no boast, none of the usual stuff of most national anthems, just questions. It must mean something, no?”
CANADA’S SANTORUM: Once again, the issue of homosexuality splits the conservative coalition. This time, in Canada.
The Dish 