France was ready to send 15,000 troops to Iraq! Yet another Bush scandal

[Bluebear]

For THIS we renamed French Fries!.....

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer

French officials were prepared to provide as many as 15,000 troops for an invasion of Iraq before relations soured between the Bush administration and the French government over the timing of an attack, according to a new book published in France this week.

The book, "Chirac Contre Bush: L'Autre Guerre" ("Chirac vs. Bush: The Other War"), reports that a French general, Jean Patrick Gaviard, visited the Pentagon to meet with Central Command staff on Dec. 16, 2002 -- three months before the war began -- to discuss a French contribution of 10,000 to 15,000 troops and to negotiate landing and docking rights for French jets and ships.

--snip

The book is a detailed recounting of the deteriorating relationship between President Bush and Chirac by two journalists based in Washington and Paris for the newspaper Le Parisien. The journalists, Cantaloube and Henri Vernet, said they interviewed more than 50 military and diplomatic officials in both countries.

The book also discloses that French officials became convinced the United States had eavesdropped on Chirac's phone conversations after a U.S. official warned a French military official that "the relationship between your president and ours is irreparable on the personal level. You have to understand that President Bush knows exactly what President Chirac thinks of him."

White House officials declined to comment.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9709-2004Oct5.html?sub=new

[andino]

1. Talk about a bad week for Bush*

Just wait till the public gets a hold of this...

[shraby]

2. Drip...drip....drip

GUSH

[annabanana]

3. will this get picked up, though?

And would France come through for Kerry now, or is it too late?

[tom_paine]

6. No. Not in a Third World Nation like Imperial Amerika.

No way. Not on Corporate TV Pravda.

[Skinner]

4. Very interesting.

This article kinda makes you wonder if Bush had a pre-existing bias against the French, which is quite common among Americans. This excerpt at the end it quite telling:

During one of Bush's first European trips, when the new president impressed other European leaders at a summit, Chirac excitedly pulled out his cell phone to call Bush's father to report that the new president had done a great job, the authors said.

"The father reported this to his son," Cantaloube said. "It was not very well received in the White House."

Also, the fact that it was "not very well received" makes you wonder if the White House had a plan to use France as a whipping boy as part of their build-up to war.

[andino]

5. Any chance that this will make into the top ten?

also needed a little bump... hehe

[venus]

11. Don't like your picture of Jesus. Very bad taste and totally insulting. n/

[Cronus Protagonist]

12. I love your pic of Jesus - cute and funny

And very appropriate. :)



http://www.factcheck.com - recommended by Dick Cheney



"So I don't worry about, and people shouldn't
worry about a draft. . . I think we're in good
shape, I really do. And, if not, we'll -- I'll address
the nation. But I don't see any need to right now."
- G. W. Bush (Source: The Whitehouse)

http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[merh]

8. It wasn't bias - it was false bravado!

They French have been investigating Halliburton and f'uCheney* for years relative to the Nigeria bribes. Probably out of courtesy, the French admin advised * and * told them to drop it! The French probably politely told * that the theft or embezzlement of money from the French people and the bribery of French officials are very serious matters that will be investigated.

The BS about freedom fries and the hate fostered by this admin towards the French is, in part, due to Cheney and Halliburton and the Nigeria bribery matters. How could anyone take it serious if those pansy Frenchmen indict Cheney, they hate us for our french fries and our courage :puke: (IMHO)

[Bluebear]

10. It was the "wrong father", Skinner

Remember, W only listens to the "Almighty Father" for guidance.

[merh]

7. I wish the French would go ahead and indict f'uCheney*

and just get it over with. x(

[FDRrocks]

9. Thats about the equivalent of active ground troops that we have right now.

We only have about 16,000 soldiers active in Iraq, if you consider that it takes about 11 soldiers working behind the scenes just to put one in the field.

Tis what my history teacher was explaining to me anyways.