A letter to the parents

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Escott

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DEAR DAD


A letter home from a marine officer with the multinational force in Bosnia

Dear Dad,

A funny thing happened to me yesterday at Camp Bondsteel (Bosnia): A French
army officer walked up to me in the PX, and told me he thought we
(Americans) were a bunch of cowboys and were going to provoke a war in Iraq.
He said if such a thing happens, we wouldn't be able to count on the support
of France.

I told him that it didn't surprise me. Since we had come to France's rescue
in World War I, World War II, Vietnam, and the Cold War, their ingratitude
and jealousy was due to surface, again, at some point in the near future
anyway.

I also told him that is why France is a third-rate military power with a
socialist economy and a bunch of faggots for soldiers. I additionally told
him that America, being a nation of deeds and action, not words, would do
whatever it had to do, and France's support, if it ever came, was only for
show anyway.

Just like in ALL NATO exercises, the US would shoulder
85% of the burden, and provide 85% of the support, as evidenced by the fact
that this French officer was shopping in the American PX, and not the other
way around.

He began to get belligerent at that point, and I told him if he would like
to, I would meet him outside in front of the Burger King and whip his _____
in front of the entire Multi-National Brigade East, thus demonstrating that
even the smallest American had more fight in him than the average Frenchman.

He called me a barbarian cowboy and walked away in a huff.

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

Dad, tell mom I love her,

Your loving daughter

Mary Beth
(LtCol,USMC)
 

AZB

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Jan 2, 2002
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No wonder so many gringos come to DR to find a feminine woman for a change.
 

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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Great post, jazzcom.

Obviously it is hard for AZB others who expect women to be submissive to understand that a woman can be forthright and assertive when the occasion calls for it without losing her femininity.
 

jose?to

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I rather deal with pretentious French leftist intellectuals than with arrogant GI Joes/Janes.

-Jose?to
Thanking France for all things cultural and civilized. This Bud's for you, baby.
 

mondongo

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Jan 1, 2002
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Note to self:

add the following phrases to official oxymoron list:

1) "French soldier"
2) "French .... intellectuals"


Up for consideration:

1) "German anti-war movement"
 

jose?to

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Is THAT what they teach at MIT?

I knew it. I knew it.

-Jose?to
Ain't got no ejumacation, but ain't blinded by the mighty $, either.
A new breed of pariguayo. Yeap, that's me. And continuing to thank France for all things cultural/intellectual/civilized.
 

dale7

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The Valiant French

I would rather be a descendant of a real ethnic group with backbone. The French lost their backbone a long time ago. This is a dog eat dog world. What good does trying to debate intellectually with someone when the other person is beating the hell out of you. Ex: WW1 and 2. They can't even defend their own country. I am saying this even with the French Canadian on my father's side which I am not overly impressed with. The US always has to bail their butts out of the frying pan, they should have a national thank God for the US saving our ass day.
dale7(proud to be a multi-ethnic American but keeping any french ancestry on the down low);)
 

Escott

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jose?to said:
Is THAT what they teach at MIT?

I knew it. I knew it.

-Jose?to
Ain't got no ejumacation, but ain't blinded by the mighty $, either.
A new breed of pariguayo. Yeap, that's me. And continuing to thank France for all things cultural/intellectual/civilized.

Well there is always someone that will fall for their BS. Yeah you aint blinded by the money just not smart enough to know when you have been hoodwinked. The French have more oil investments than any other country in Iraq. I can't imagine that would sway their politics any. They also sold Iraq most of the materials to build the Nuke Plant that the Israelis blew up. The Germans sold them what France didn't.

Yessiree... Quality people at a low low price. PT Barnum once said that their was an ass for every seat Joseito and this seat belongs to you!

Regards,
Escott
 

Tony C

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Pib said:
Stereotyping much?

Sorry Pib but sterotypes are usually based on Fact!

A few other points....
I am dead set against women in the US military.
France is against action in Iraq because they are heavily invested in the Petro industry there.
Germany is against action because most of the equipement that is used by Iraq to produce Chemical and biological weapons were manufactured by them.
 

Arve

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Sorry Pib but sterotypes are usually based on Fact!

Stereotypes are useful and based on facts, but they are also
very serious simplifications of the "truth" and forgetting that is
not good. :)

A few other points....
I am dead set against women in the US military.

Women in the army..heheheheh.. Here I agree.

France is against action in Iraq because they are heavily invested in the Petro industry there.
Germany is against action because most of the equipement that is used by Iraq to produce Chemical and biological weapons were manufactured by them. [/B][/QUOTE]

Most of the equipment?? Figures and sources please. :) Beyond
that, it's a fact that these countries have investments in Iraq, but
the current disagreement between Europe and the US is a lot
more complicated than that.

Personally I support a war in Iraq, but I don't see it as a part of the socalled "war against terrorism" which is a silliness I've never understood either way. I do see the concerns of my fellow Europeans though. As it has nothing to do with Mars, Venus or
DR I won't be going further for now. :)
 

jose?to

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Well,

Americans are from Mars, Europeans are from Venus.

Americans from Mars; Europeans from Venus
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Kagan in the Washington Post:

"President Bush is making a noble effort to pull together the fraying alliance, but the fact is Europeans and Americans no longer share a common view of the world. On the all-important question of power -- the utility of power, the morality of power -- they have parted ways. Europeans believe they are moving beyond power into a self-contained world of laws and rules and transnational negotiation and cooperation. Europe itself has entered a post-historical paradise, the realization of Immanuel Kant's "Perpetual Peace." The United States, meanwhile, remains mired in history, exercising power in the anarchic Hobbesian world where international rules are unreliable and where security and the promotion of a liberal order still depend on the possession and use of military might. This is why, on major strategic and international questions today, Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus: They agree on little and understand one another less and less."


Oops! Did he say 'anarchic Hobbesian world'?

-Jose?to
 
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Tony C

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jose?to said:
Well,

Americans are from Mars, Europeans are from Venus.

Americans from Mars; Europeans from Venus
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Kagan in the Washington Post:

"President Bush is making a noble effort to pull together the fraying alliance, but the fact is Europeans and Americans no longer share a common view of the world. On the all-important question of power -- the utility of power, the morality of power -- they have parted ways. Europeans believe they are moving beyond power into a self-contained world of laws and rules and transnational negotiation and cooperation. Europe itself has entered a post-historical paradise, the realization of Immanuel Kant's "Perpetual Peace." The United States, meanwhile, remains mired in history, exercising power in the anarchic Hobbesian world where international rules are unreliable and where security and the promotion of a liberal order still depend on the possession and use of military might. This is why, on major strategic and international questions today, Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus: They agree on little and understand one another less and less."


Oops! Did he say 'anarchic Hobbesian world'?

-Jose?to

Typical Liberal tripe!
"Post-historical paradise"? Who is he kidding? Then why is that that 20 times more Euros move to the US then americans are moving to Europe? Could it be that there is no future in their paradise?

Fraying alliance? 18 european countries are on-board with the US. Including those bastions of Conservative countries(Please note the Sarcasm) Spain, Portugal and Italy!

Joseito if you want to quote from a media outlet to aswer us I suggest you don't use the Washington Post.
 

jose?to

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Tony C...

Would you care to know WHAT countries those Europeans are coming from, Tony? Somehow I don't think they come from France, Germany, Austria....

Speechless again, huh?

-Jose?to
I need a real job.
 

Tony C

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I can't even fart without knocking over a Frenchie or a German in this town. Check the immigration records.
Ever wonder why the US is the only country that doesn't make you pass through immigration when you leave? They don't because they know that 99% will be comming right back!
 

Escott

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Re: Tony C...

jose?to said:
Would you care to know WHAT countries those Europeans are coming from, Tony? Somehow I don't think they come from France, Germany, Austria....

Speechless again, huh?

-Jose?to
I need a real job.

If I never saw another Frenchman, German or Austrian I wouldn't be put off. Their contributions to World peace have been so minimal they aren't even noticed.

We have saved the Bacon of the French more times than they have saved anything. I was discussing this with my father who is a WWII veteran and he was telling me that they cheered the alllies and specifically the US forces when they "Liberated the French from the Germans".

Besides, how to you think "Eurotrash" was invented? hahaha...

Joseito, you need more than a job! LOL
France has NEVER been right on foreign policy NOT once in 80 years.
 

Arve

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Very good points Joseito. :) That part of Europe ( possibly ) heading towards a system working on a "Kantian" logic, as opposed to an international society which is on a "Lockean" one.

However, the transnational level so far resembles more a Hobbesian anarchy, and I believe that's the level of US/Al Qaeda
relations. Here the concept of "war ( on terrorism )" makes
no sense. First, wars are fought between states, which Al Qaeda
isn't. Second, wars include basic, shared understandings about
what's going on. ( Who's a legal combatant, what are the rules of
engagement, even where to fight. ) No such understanding exists
between Al Qaeda and the US. USA turns up to fight in Iraq, Al Qaeda decides to show up on Bali or God forbid, in London etc.
9/11 wasn't an act of war but a criminal one of massmurder and it should be treated as such.

Another issue has been raised by Condoleezza Rice. Which is the the fact that today only USA has a global outlook on things. Russia still has some but is rapidly losing it. Europe doesn't have it
and is more concerned with purely regional matters. If that's the
case it'll partially explain the growing gap between Europe and USA. Still, I support a war vs Iraq, preferably as soon as possible
as I'm almost out of popcorn and the beer is getting warm.

Arve ( who's got the feeling that this probably doesn't belong in
this forum, and maybe nowhere at all. )
 
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