Yes, it is a provocative title, and I hope to show you why it is justified. I am really starting to think that the French are not merely stupid or willfully blind, but actual accomplices of Saddam Hussein. Let’s start with several basic premises:
1.) Saddam Hussein is evil, and Iraq must not be allowed to possess or develop WMD.
2.) Iraq lost the Gulf War, and some of the conditions for surrender included weapons inspections.
3.) There are successful models for weapons inspections and appropriate disarmament.
4.) UN Resolution 1441 was the absolute last chance, and it was up to Saddam to prove he is disarming, and not for us to search and find hidden WMD.
If you accept those premises, you are a resident of the Planet Earth. If not, the Democratic Underground can be found here. Today, Colin Powell has outlined, in excrutiating detail, how Iraq is not complying with the current resolution regarding disarmament.
The French response? Here it is, in all its glory:
Given the choice between military intervention and an inspections regime that is inadequate because of a failure to operate on Iraq’s part, we must choose the decisive reinforcement of the means of inspection. This is today what France is proposing.”
France has been the leading opponent of using military force in Iraq now and has suggested it might veto a resolution that could lead to war.
Mr. de Villepin said the council should work with the chief inspectors to find ways to strengthen their mission.
“Let us double, let us triple the number of inspectors. Let us open more regional offices. Let us go further than this. Could we not, for example, put up, set up, a specialized body to keep under surveillance the sites and areas that have already been inspected? Let us very significantly reinforce the capacity for monitoring and collecting information in Iraq,” he said.
Get that? The problem is not that Hussein is not complying. We just don’t have enough inspectors, and they are not coordinated enough. You guys remember how Hans Blix stated the other day that the main problem was that Iraq was handing over the contraband materials too quickly for the inspectors to verify, right?
The French simply do not get it. If Saddam is complying, why do we need to set up surveillance for sights that have already been inspected? If we can trust him and the current inspections, why keep watching those sights? Why ramp up the inspections?
Simple answer- because he is not complying, he still possesses the weapons, and he is still attempting to develop new ones.
Are the French really this stupid?
*** Update ***
Mark Steyn gets it:
A few days ago, I said this thing was getting like Monica: by the time you’re in Year Two, no smoking gun is ever quite smoking enough. It’s perfectly obvious from Colin Powell’s presentation what’s going on. Ten minutes before the flatfoots show up, the bootleg liquor is whisked away, replaced by teacups and the gaming table gets dropped through the trapdoor and replaced by an ornamental fountain. If you think Saddam Hussein is a lovable rogue
Laurence Simon
No, they are stupider.
Franck
I just wanted to tell you with my bad English ( because I think you might not be able to understand if I write in French ) that you’re quite wrong…
I really can’t see why you prefer a war, instead of sending more inspectors, so that way the results would be the same, except few deads…
And I really have nothing against american people, because I don’t know them, but some terrible things are scaring me… No more French fries in the USA, now you call that Freedom fries… This is really great. And I find that really dangerous, talking about fries and cheese when people are going to die because someone in the USA decided to make a war.
Unfortunately, my English is to bad to explain you everything, but you are speaking about the wrong war : it is against Iraq you want to fight, not France… And if you want to kill people and see more 11 september because of that, I find that stupid…. And I am not talking about ” Americans…”
And you know what, sometimes in your newspapers, we can read things completely wrong about France and french people, and I have the impression that you haven’t been interrested in the way we live for centuries… And France is not a small country, economically speaking. So I wonder how much you know people living in Iraq, the ones you want to kill, or the ones you say they are living a terrible life with S. Hussein…. Do you really know what a war is? It is not a matter of who is winning and who is loosing, it is not just like : ” America is still the biggest army in the world ” , it is not. It is a matter of soldiers, innocent people dying, for the conviction of 10 chefs… And you are ( not you all, !! ) following and saying this is really great, your president is wright, he knows the way, he is good, and everything else is “bad”. I am afraid this is a really simple way of talking about serious problems, and I wonder how someone can be sure he knows the wright way to go??Or how he can ask people to go and kill or die for his convictions… He must be really intelligent………………
So, once again I regret I can’t be more precise because of my English, but we should not mix everything, like fries and death, and maybe disarmament and oil…
I am not ironic or whatever, but I really hope Michael Moore was wright when he said most of amercican people didn’t vote for G. Bush…
Alex Stone
Mr. Simon. Mike Moore’s book is good but it angers me because if america is that messed (which it mabye) why doesn’t the UN kick the B admin out? Their in power like it or not so I say shut up about it or do something – don’t just moan, Bush this Bush that. Right. Sadman of Iraq – good guy or bad guy? Meant to play by rules – is he? Kills his people under a brutal regime which was allowed to continue hurting people for how long? since the gulf? Now France wishes to veto…..look this can’t go any further. I say kill everyone in iraq (alot of innocent people included) but it would solve the problem wouldn’t it? The war won’t kill everyone but if it killed everyone who liked sadman’s way of thinking it would be worth it. Politics like fair trail often keeps murdering rapist off the streets.
J. D. Young
Nuke the bastards!
anti-french
hate Saddam too and his colection of WMD…but why kill alot of innocents civillians in order to topple that dictator’s government? Green Berets, SEALs and DELTAs could do fine manhunt/elimination job. Why waste so many conventional troops and assets?
fischer
O Dear, I think you are one of those little amerikan bees, that are not looking, what there really is. USA are on an way to
newtralisize itsself, because the most Americans
don
David
How wonderfully ridiculous your comments appear, Mr. Blogger, when we realize that we haven’t found ANY WMD AT ALL :) and the evidence for them turned out to be an obvious forgery.
Isn’t the archival power of the internet wonderful?
Don’t feel too stupid though, after all, President Bush was “tricked” just like yourself!
MIKE
FRENCH PEOPLE ARE NATURAL COWARDS-THEY HAD RATHER SEE AMERICANS DIE THAN SADDAM OR OSAMA-THEY CAN GO TO H###