Dude, Where's My Country_ - Michael Moore [29]
You’d think that if there was a serious threat of Saddam Hussein using his vast stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, or invading another nation, more countries would have quickly jumped into the fray to stop the madman, especially those countries much closer to Iraq.
The French, meanwhile, were taking it in the baguette. You don’t disobey the United States and get away with it! And you certainly don’t tell everyone we’re lying—especially when we are. Bush, his policy-makers, and all their little mouthpieces got busy attacking the Frenchies.
There was soft-spoken diplomat Colin Powell on PBS saying, “It was a very difficult period as we went through that second resolution vote and we didn’t believe that France was playing a helpful role.” When Powell was asked if France would suffer for not supporting America’s stance on war, the secretary of state said simply, “Yes.”
Donald Rumsfeld took a different approach—a more insulting one—in responding to a question about Europe’s view of the war, “You’re thinking of Europe as Germany and France. I don’t. I think that’s old Europe.” (Rummy apparently prefers to think of Europe—or Nouveau Europe, as he calls it—as containing only such vital coalition members as Albania, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia and Slovakia.)
On the subject of French President Jacques Chirac, Bush told Tom Brokaw of NBC, “I doubt he’ll be coming to the ranch any time soon.” (Chirac was no doubt heartbroken at the prospect of missing a visit to Crawford, Texas.)
But it was an anonymous White House staffer who dealt the harshest punishment of all—accusing Democratic presidential hopeful (and decorated Vietnam veteran) Senator John Kerry of looking “French.”
Representative Jim Saxton, R-New Jersey, proposed legislation in the House to keep French companies from getting U.S. financing for the reconstruction of Iraq. His colleague, Representative Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Florida, cooked up an even better way to really give the French the old “what for”—she introduced a bill to bring the bodies of World War II soldiers who had died and been buried in France back to the United States. “The remains of our brave heroes should be buried in patriotic soil,” she explained, “not in a country that has turned its back on us.”
An anti-tax group ran ads against two Republican U.S. senators who opposed Bush’s tax cut. The ads pictured each senator standing next to a waving French flag with the message: “President Bush courageously led the forces of freedom but some so-called allies like France stood in the way. At home, President Bush has proposed bold job-creating tax cuts to boost the economy. But some so-called Republicans . . . stand in the way.”
Fox News commentator Sean Hannity told his viewers, “If I had a trip planned to France this summer, I would have cancelled it. I’m going to tell you why. What Jacques Chirac did in our moment of need and how he undermined us and to the extent that he did it for his own selfish reasons, his duplicity is beyond forgiveness at this point. I’m sorry, I just—I would tell every American to stay away from France, go to Great Britain.”
It wasn’t long after being fed these French Whoppers that the American people took the bait. French wine was poured onto the street, and, at one New Jersey restaurant, down the toilet. French restaurants were shunned. Vacationers cancelled their plans to travel to France—with bookings down 30 percent. The Congressional dining room substituted “freedom” fries for french fries on its menu, following the lead of a North Carolina restaurant owner who was following the lead of a WWI-era effort to rename sauerkraut “liberty cabbage.” Restaurants across the country followed suit, and as the president of the Fuddruckers restaurant chain put it, “Every guest who steps up to a counter at their local Fuddruckers and says, ‘Give me freedom fries!’ shows their true support for those who guard our most important freedoms, especially freedom from fear.” (Not to mention freedom from facts: What we know as “French” fries