France: With Friends Like This, Who Needs Enemies?
France our ally? Think again. The concept that France has consistently been America’s enemy is well-supported in a new book called Our Oldest Enemy (Miller and Molesky).
Not surprisingly, only 34% of American’s have a favorable opinion of France (2003 poll). This brings up the question of what those 34% were thinking? France’s adversity to America, its people and its interests is nothing new which makes Senator John Kerry’s argument that George W. Bush single handedly spoiled our relationship with Old Europe particularly laughable. Let’s look at how “our friend” has acted toward us during the past 200 or so years:
In the Revolutionary War the French entered the war reluctantly and were above all motivated to harm their British rival.
France sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War.
During the Cold War, de Gaulle did everything he could to weaken NATO.
In 1986, Francois Mitterrand denied U.S. warplanes permission to fly over French Airspace on the way to Libya.
France’s actions against our interests in Iraq (especially at a time that their support might have helped win the approval of the United Nations) is well documented.
As Jeffrey Gedmin (director of the Aspen Institute Berlin) quipped in the Wall St. Journal review of Our Oldest Enemy, “It’s hard to make the case any longer that France is simply an annoying ally. Only the annoying part is reliably true.” Or as Mark Twain said: “I can’t describe to you how poor & empty & offensive France is.”
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