The Laughing Wolf

Why Am I Not Surprised?

The revelations over the last few days about France and Iraq really are no surprise. Anyone who has done even a cursory check of La Belle France over the last 10-20 years could see it coming. What is surprising in any way about this is the documentation that existed. The French are usually much better in making sure there are few if any records.

Let’s see. France and Belgium have clearly violated their sworn oaths as part of the NATO treaty to come to the aid of other members. Not just the U.S., but Turkey really is the primary example. We should in no way have expected them to deal fairly with us, after protecting them during the cold war, but Turkey deserved better.

Now examples of France actively conspiring with an enemy of the U.S. have come to light. More than merely sharing information – spying – for them, France would also appear from reports coming out to have also provided advice and counsel to Iraq on how to proceed in dealing with the U.S. Never mind that the U.S. has been in a state of declared war since just after 9-11. Never mind that the U.S. has twice directly acted to keep France free in the last century and indirectly for more than 40 years. Merde.

While I doubt it will be done, a very good case for declaring France to be in violation of treaty exists. They have violated the agreements of participation in NATO, even to the limited extent that French honor demanded. Twice over. They have actively engaged in providing an enemy with diplomatic and military intelligence, in violation of sworn oaths of mutual defense. They have also done this in the face of a history of being saved by the U.S. and Great Britain.

Then again, that is part of the problem here. In the simplest possible terms, it is ego. France’s ego can not accept its position in the world, and has hives over acknowledging its debts to others for remaining free. France has done it all itself, don’t you know. Sigh. The corruption in terms of artwork, oil, money and such is merely the manifestation of the deeper issue. Then again, as it turns out, none of it is terribly deep. The toddler France did not bury its own dealings deep enough in the global sandbox playground.

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