Opinion

France must have lost its mind

Richard Whitrock
Opinion Columnist

In recent years, my view of the world has enjoyed great expansion. Through extensive study, a little travel and careful consideration, I have broadened my horizons beyond the U.S. borders and made great progress toward a completely international view of the world.

After countless hours of research on the subject, and after carefully viewing the situation from an objective viewpoint, not biased in favor of the United States, I have come to the conclusion that France is indeed out of its mind.

Now that the war in Iraq is winding down, the United States is beginning the long road toward rebuilding the war-torn country. Ah, mais non, says France: The United States should not have a role in the rebuilding of Iraq -- the United Nations should be the sole body in charge of reconstruction efforts. Of course, when France says the United Nations, it means France.

What is France's President Jacques Chirac smoking?

How could he possibly claim even a shred of intelligence and still act this way?

In the entire history of warfare, never has the motto "to the fence sitter goes the spoils" been true, but France seems to think that inaction qualifies as victory.

Tell you what, Chirac -- the United States will let France be in charge of rebuilding 10 cities in Iraq for every French soldier that died in the war. Since that is zero, let's say 10 cities for every French soldier that fought. Still zero. What about a French soldier who provided support? A French official involved in the effort? A Euro spent in the war effort? 

We seem to be running out of reasons why France has any right to even have an opinion on what happens to Iraq now.

If anyone wants any real proof as to why France should not be involved in the rebuilding process at all -- other than the fact that they actively worked against U.S. efforts to change Iraq and effectively sided with Saddam Hussein, making France on the loser side of line -- it isn't hard. One needs look no further than to France's efforts to keep in place the economic sanctions on Iraq.

The country is torn apart, has been brutalized by a madman dictator for decades, needs extensive repairs to its infrastructure, has oil fields on fire and just ousted the regime responsible for it all. Thus, it has no actual government to organize what must be done to rebuild. 

Hey, I know how it can be done: Let's keep the sanctions in place because of the government that was just ousted -- that will help. They don't need money and trade to rebuild anything. That's just a myth. Besides, the ordinary citizen who had nothing to do with the crimes of Saddam's regime is the one we want to punish anyway. This plan sounds like a winner, doesn't it?

If only France could get over its ego long enough to open its eyes -- but we all know that'll never happen.

Philosophy is wrong; there are three egos -- the ego, the super ego, and the France ego. Perhaps Descartes should have said "I am French, therefore no one deserves decision-making power but me -- and I didn't have to earn it."

Whitrock, a sophomore architecture major, can be reached at rick_whitrock@hotmail.com.