Trying hard not to gloat

[rodbarnett]

As the governments in London and Washington face a growing crisis of confidence over their case for war on Iraq, politicians in Paris are struggling hard to suppress the words "we told you so". Hugh Schofield reports.

More than three months after the end of the war on Iraq, US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are under increasing pressure to justify the invasion that brought about the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime.

France led the coalition of nations opposed to the American-led invasion — arguing there was no evidence of an imminent threat from Saddam to justify so drastic a step, and warning that the occupying forces would face an uphill and bloody task to rebuild Iraqi democracy.

<snip>

Three months on — with Blair and Bush battling to establish their credibility and with the death count among soldiers in Iraq rising by the day — it would be a Frenchman of unnatural magnanimity who did not feel an overwhelming sense of justification.

"Vindication is the word," according to analyst Francois Heisbourg, director of the Foundation for Strategic Research, an independent think-tank.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=58&story_id=1541

[prolesunited]

1. I would gloat, too

However, too many people have died, lives have been ripped apart, our budget decimated and we still don't have a way out. I do indeed feel vindicated, but it is a very shallow victory.

[catmandu57]

2. It's a heavy price to pay

to be able to say I told you so. I feel vindicated as well, but it is empty.

[ArtieBoy]

3. I feel vindicated

and not at all empty. 500+ dead and $60+ billion going to waste makes my victory all the richer. The egg on Bush and Blair's faces is tainted with the blood of their victims. It stains and will not wash off. I hope the voters remember what their payback has been for standing by while a Republican president was selected for them for a long time to come.

ABB `04!

[TheBrownDog]

8. Congratulations!

Finally a victory you can be proud of.

[prolesunited]

9. Shame the Iraqi

lives that were lost don't figure in your body count. I don't understand how you could find happiness in death and destruction. I feel profoundly sad.

[Toots]

4. If they are gunna gloat we won't sell them any Freedom Fries

:silly:

[Cat Atomic]

5. They're farting in our general direction.

[waterman]

6. Good one, CA!!!!

Hee hee hee!

[Robbien]

7. The French are not gloating, they are getting even

The French and Chinese have sign a declaration today for "collective security".

The French are now asking EU to lift the ban on Chinese arms and the Chinese are buying a couple dozen French Airbuses. They both issued a warning today against Taiwan independence.

This hissy fit of Bush is not doing the world any favors.

[Ms. Clio]

13. very very interesting

Do you happen to have a link?

No wonder Perle and Frum identify France as a potential "enemy" in their latest PNAC manifesto.

[TheBrownDog]

10. What do you make of this?

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040128-094014-7323r.htm

[bobbieinok]

11. Saddam papers say Iraq bribed France to oppose war - Moonie Times

...

[spanone]

12. Right wing newspaper owned by rev. sun yung moon

[markses]

14. Ah yes, the lunatics have been disseminating this nonsense heavily

Yesterday it was in translation from this US black op organ al-Mada, now the GOP propaganda broadsheet Washington Times picks it up. Needless to say, it is nonsense of the first order (that's why even the Washington Times wouldn't print it without attributing the information to this laughable al-Mada sheet). More sad propaganda for the sickly and demented right wing toads.

Of course, one should have no doubt that the decision against war on the part of the vast majority of the world's nation was self-interested in part. that's the thread of truth that gives this nonsense even the slight touch of credibility. At the same time, the principle that I saw being trumpeting by the French, and the germans, and everyone else was that the neither the US nor any other country could launch an invasion of a sovereign state without proving either self-defense or, in the most extreme cases, humanitarian catstrophe. Neither condition was satisfied.

The right wing murderers (and those who take joy in war and murder) in this country, of course, latched on the French "money interest" story (while completely ignoring any suggestion that the criminal faction in the White House was pursuing its own money interest, needless to say) because they know - though cannot admit - that the Bush war lust was in fact greed from top to bottom. The very fact that they would explain France's actions through money betrays their own sick repression of Bush's motives. The right wing in this country has gone completely insane.