French Twist
The French offered to help in Iraq, writes Brian Knowlton; the U.S. simply ignored their offer:
Although Secretary of State Colin Powell called pointedly on Europeans this week to provide new assistance to Iraq, French officials said an offer made nearly a year ago by France to train Iraqis as military police remains unanswered. A similar offer from Germany has been accepted.A reminder by a French diplomat of that untaken offer came at the beginning of a week in which the United States wrangled with six NATO members, including France, over their refusal to take part in a NATO plan to train Iraqi soldiers at a site near Baghdad.
Trained Iraqi security forces are one of the most crying needs in Iraq, the United States has said. The U.S. ability to draw down American forces will depend largely on the pace of Iraqi training.
"We are ready to help" by training hundreds of gendarmes, the diplomat said, underlining other French contributions: the forgiveness of Iraqi debt and participation with NATO peacekeepers in Afghanistan.
The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not blame the United States for blocking the earlier French offer to train gendarmes somewhere outside of Iraq. That left an unspoken implication that the interim Iraqi government was behind the decision.
The United States had been particularly angry with the French for their leading role in opposing the war. On various levels the administration has appeared quicker to forgive the Germans for their own opposition.
Given the magnitude of French perfidy in the UN Oil-For-Food scandal, is it any wonder that we said Pasadena to a French offer to train cops?
PS- We all remember that Jacques Chirac was the guy who SOLD Saddam a reactor in 1976, right?
http://www.cot81.com/Livret/Livret2003/l4.htm
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/669/_fo8.htm
Cridland at December 13, 2004 1:20 AM
Would the Iraqis really _want_ the government of France to "help"?
Howard Owens at December 13, 2004 2:58 AM