USA and France to reconcile?

[Whoha]

Guys, why shouldn't Saddam have come back to power, we cut and ran after a single bombing in Lebanon, we cut and ran in somalia? Why would france have not made the bet that we would once again cut and run?

[MrFun]

I'm surprised other Americans have not demolished the Statue of Liberty yet.

[Dr Strangelove]

The ones most likely to do that are the very ones least likely to know who built it.

[Lefty Scaevola]

Re: USA and France to reconcile?

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
Do any of our French posters have any ideas on what France might be willing to do? Forgive the Iraq debt?

That depends on how much evidence the USA finds in Iraq about how the debt was acrued.

[Sava]

yeah Lefty... maybe they will find out the French gave Saddam WMD components...

I can just see Donald Rumsfeld now... "Those evil old Europe bastards gave Saddam WMD's!!!" despite the fact he was the Reagan administration envoy who met with Saddam to iron out agreements for US corporations to sell WMD components to Saddam.

I hope that Bush attacks France for that... one more thing to call HYPOCRISY on...

[Shi Huangdi]

Sig Updated.

[Space05us]

The ones most likely to do that are the very ones least likely to know who built it.

no kidding.

[Kuciwalker]

I hope that with Saddam captured we'll find out more about any deals between France and Saddam's regime...

... come on, you know there had to be something going on, else why would they be so adamant about protecting him?

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
Sig Updated.

I'd use it too, but I already have one Sava-quote in it

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by skywalker
... come on, you know there had to be something going on, else why would they be so adamant about protecting him?

Of course we dealt with him. We're the world's third weapon exporter after the US and Russia. It's obvious we have clients scattered around the world, and it's obvious we don't only have the nice kids on the block in our shop.

And you know what more incredible? You too!
Your country too had deals with the Saddam regime, if only because you cannot exactly act as if a 30 million inhab country didn't exist for 12 years, especially when it sits on a sea of oil.

To "discover" the deals between France and Saddam's Iraq will be about as interesting as to "discover" that Rumsie went all smiles to Saddam some 15 years ago. It feels dirty, but the whole international diplomacy is dirty.

One of the many reasons France rejected war so adamantly was that the Saddam regime had a huge debt towards us, and we feared his toppling would cancel the debt. In all their postwar handlings with France on the issue, the US and the Iraqi council raised the debt issue, threatening or announcing to cancel it.
There's a very simple reason why this debt is important (even for France, who cancelled many debts in the past). That's because the debt is huge. Before GulfWar1, we sold throngs of missiles and chemicals to Saddam, and even a nuclear reactor! Of course we want the money.

Is it dirty? Definitely, that's clearly nothing to be proud of. But then again, past the moralizing PR, nobody can be proud of anything in Iternational Relations.

[Kuciwalker]

I think it would be awesome if we cancelled the debt. The irony is wonderful.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Before GulfWar1, we sold ... a nuclear reactor! Of course we want the money.

Take it up with the Israelis.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by skywalker
I think it would be awesome if we cancelled the debt. The irony is wonderful.

Will you, or did you, cancel the one they had to you?

[Alexander's Horse]

The French say "kiss my butt" and everyone takes that as a sign of reconciliation?

[Shi Huangdi]

Well we know France used to sell weapons to Iraq. Before '91, that's no big deal. The key will be discovering if France continued to arm or support in anyway Saddam after Gulf War I.