On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 19:15:32 GMT, "Dieter Aaaa" Dieter
wrote:

Here is another one for you:
"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an
accordion.
You just leave a lot of useless, noisy baggage behind."
(Jed Babbin, former U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense)

http://www.financialsense.com/editor...004/0409b.html

In Praise of Cowards
by Bill Bonner
Editor, The Daily Reckoning
Date, 2004

The Daily Reckoning PRESENTS
How did the word 'French' become synonymous with 'yellow-belly'? Bill
Bonner peruses the blood-stained pages of history...

"Rien ne saurait interrompre les actions généreusement bienfaisantes de
la France en Indochine."
(Nothing can stop the generous good works of France in Indochina
[Vietnam].)
- Indo-China Governor-General Pierre Pasquier, 1930

A joke made its way around the Internet following the train bombings in
Madrid:

"In response to the terrorism events in Madrid, the French government
announced a change in its alert status...from 'run' to 'hide.' If the
threat worsens, the French may be forced to increase their level of
security, declaring a move to 'surrender' or 'collaboration' status as
events develop."

One of the many conceits Americans permit themselves is that they
bravely face up to the world's terrorist menace, while others - most
notably, the French - cower in fear.

Elsewhere, in the International Herald Tribune, comes a letter to the
editor in which the writer takes issue with an apparently widespread
report that John Kerry is worried about looking "too French" and that
this is a sign of "weakness" in the eyes of the lumpen voters.

We stop still in our tracks. We hold our breath. There must be a price
to be paid for such arrogant dumbo-ism. But Americans are ready to
believe anything - if it flatters them.

Anyone who has ever cracked open a history book couldn't help but know
that French history is drenched in blood. When it came to butchering
each other, what the Gaullic tribes didn't know about it probably wasn't
worth knowing. And then, there were the wars with the Romans...and with
the English...and religious wars...and wars with between
princes...between kingdoms...wars for no reason. Weakness? Cowardice? A
group of Norman French fighters no bigger than a small-town police force
invaded and captured all of England. Bonaparte took on all of
Europe...and almost beat them all.

General Marbot records an incident in the campaign against Russia in
which a group of French soldiers is cut off from the main force, but
visible from the Emperor's commandpost. Realizing that they could not
expect reinforcements, the brigade sent a message to Bonaparte - 'We,
who are about to die, salute you.' Then, they fought to the last man.

Later this month comes the anniversary of the Battle of Camerone.
Napoleon's nephew sent troops to Mexico in the 1860s. In the action
surrounding the siege of Puebla, a group of 60 French foreign
legionnaires was cut off and confronted by an army of 2,000 Mexicans.
The Mexican commander asked for a surrender. Instead, the French vowed
to fight to the last man. Trapped in an inn, the soldiers had nothing to
eat or drink. Then, the Mexicans set the place on fire.

"In spite of the heat and smoke," explains a report on the Internet,
"the legionnaires resisted, but many of them were killed or injured. By
5 pm on April 30, 1863, only 12 men could still fight with 2nd
Lieutenant Maudet. At this time, the Mexican colonel gathered his
soldiers and told them what a disgrace it would be if they were unable
to defeat such a small number of men. The Mexicans were about to give
the general assault through the holes opened in the walls of the
courtyard...[they] once again asked Lieutenant Maudet to surrender. Once
again, Maudet scornfully refused.

"The final charge was given. Soon, only 5 men were left around Maudet;
Corporal Maine, legionnaires Catteau, Wensel, Constantin, and Leonard.
Each had only one bullet left. In a corner of the courtyard, their backs
against the wall, still facing the enemy, they fixed bayonets. When the
signal was given, they opened fired and fought with their bayonets.
Luitenant Maudet and 2 legionnaires fell, mortally wounded. Maine, along
with his 2 remaining companions, were about to be slaughtered when a
Mexican officer saved them. He shouted: 'Surrender!'

"'We will, only if you promise to allow us to carry and care for our
injured men and if you leave us our guns.'

"'Nothing can be refused to men like you,' answered the officer."

And this spring also marks the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Dien
Bien Phu. Writer Graham Greene visited the French just before the
shooting started. He found them well supplied - with 48,000 bottles of
wine. But after the Vietnamese terrorists captured the airstrips, the
French were cut off and doomed. Still, they held out - hoping a
diplomatic solution could be found. It did not come.

After a 56 day siege, French general de Castries radioed his superior in
Hanoi: "I'm blowing up the installations. The ammunition dumps are
already exploding. Au revoir."

"Well then," came the reply, "au revoir, mon vieux."

After the fall of Indo-China, the French renounced their "civilizing
mission" foreign policy. Now, it is America that tromps over the planet,
claiming to make the world a better place.

But when it comes to blockheaded bellicosity and desperate courage,
Americans have nothing to teach the French.

In comparison to Napoleon's grand campaigns, America's early wars were
piddling, tawdry affairs. Its wars against the Mexicans and Spaniards,
for example, were more sordid than glorious. Even its Revolutionary War
was merely a minor engagement in comparison to the Napoleonic wars, and
only won because the French intervened at a crucial moment to pull
Americans' chestnuts out of the fire. Here, we quote Charles W. Eliot's
history, in which he describes how the patriots had fallen "into a
condition of despondency from which nothing but the steadfastness of
Washington and the Continental army and the aid from France saved them."

In WWI, the French battered themselves against the Germans for two years
- and suffered more casualties than America had in all its wars put
together - before the Pershing ever set foot in France. Again, in WWII,
Americans waited until the combatants had been softened up...before
entering the war with an extraordinary advantage in fresh soldiers and
almost unlimited supplies.

Americans have no history. Probably just as well. The French, on the
other hand, have too much. Practically every street in Paris reminds
them of a slaughter somewhere. Upon the Arc de Triomphe, Les Invalides,
and dozens of other piles of stone, the names of towns in Germany,
Spain, Italy, Poland, Russia...or North Africa...are inscribed. Each one
marks the deaths of thousands of French soldiers - gone early to their
graves for who-remembers-what important national purpose. Every town in
France, even the most remote and forlorn little burg, has at its center
a pillar of granite or marble - with the names of the men whose bodies
were torn to bit by flying lead or corroded by some battlefield disease.
A whole race of orphans grew up after WWI...and special seats on the
subway were designated for those "mutilated in war" including thousands
of "sans gueules" - men who had had their jaws blown away and yet
survived, too horrible to look upon.

The French have had enough of war - at least for now. Let them enjoy a
well-earned cowardice. We will get our chance.

Regards,

Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning