264 Don't tell us. . .

Today’s Wall Street Journal (March 16, 2004) letters to the editor column contained a letter from Tim Knowlton in response to the French op ed piece last week, “Are we still all-Americans?”

“Don’t trot out the tired baseless arguments of unilateralist, of “pre-emptive.” There are soldiers from many lands fighting the terrorists in Iraq. Don’t tell us there are not, it would be an insult to their sacrifice. Don’t tell us the United Nations could have helped, because it shrank from its duty all these years. Don’t tell us that negotiating with Saddam, or waiting through another round of inspections, would have kept him from murder and torture. That’s an insult to the millions who have died and suffered under his rule.

And please stop saying that President Bush lied. That insults the memory of those who died horrible deaths from Saddam’s weapons.”

Other writers were less civil, pointing out the French caving in to various brigands and thugs over the years (VietNam, Hitler), . . .the French are back stabbers, . . . carrying water (I.e. oil) for Saddam, . . .and that le Monde is the official left wing mouth piece of the French government.

The on-line version was even more scathing in readers' outrage at Colombani:

Mr. Colombani has the right to his asinine opinion about Mr. Bush's handling of the Iraqi war. Conveniently he forgets or chooses to ignore that his own country, France, was a willing partner of Saddam Hussein. Therefore the need for them to delay and place roadblocks on any attempt that spearheaded by the United States may uncover the extent to which the French had been in Saddam's bed. Oscar H. Atehortua Sr. - Brooklyn, N.Y.

With regard to "containment" vs. "pre-emption," since when did the French contain anything? If they had not been cowering in Paris they could have pre-emptively acted when Hitler defied treaties ending World War I, and we would not still be mourning the 50 million who died as a result of the European community's fetish for negotiation and conciliation. By the way, Hitler violated his treaties fewer times than Saddam did. Michael Becker - Phoenix