Tuesday, February 11, 2003

The Captain takes a long time saying that what we have here, between the U.S. and the Old Europe, is a failure to communicate. Maybe so, but even if we grant that point, this Jacksonian would say, "These morons have had a long time to learn how Americans think, and right now, we don't have time for their games of 'Non, Non!' while their eyes say 'Oui!' " We have made the considered judgment that Saddam Hussein right now is the biggest thing between us and UBL, and we're not interested in the courtly protocols that pass for honor in Paris.

My mother used to tell me gravely how her older brother, Warren Starr, had been part of the Bataan Death March and had spent time in a Japanese prison camp. It wasn't until years later that I learned what that meant, not that I can really understand it, even now. I had another uncle who was said to have been in the Battle of the Bulge. Neither one of them said much about the War, but to me, that made those memories sacred. The French don't think Americans have much of a sense of history, but we have 50 years worth, and we don't take kindly to being lectured on pacifism by people who don't have the grace to stand by us, even if they think we're wrong. Friends are people who stand by you in a fight, not jerks who join the wrong side until they can see who's winning. Either you believe in freedom and democracy or you don't. That's why America doesn't have colonies, and why it has rebuilt its defeated enemies, and even France. The problem with the French is that they don't understand how little time Americans spend worrying about their opinions. Now they want to make us aware of how indispensible they are. If they're lucky they won't have to find out.

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