The French Were Right

Posted by on 11/20/2003

Many months after U.S.-French tensions flared over Iraq, “freedom fries” are still served in the cafeterias of the U.S. Capitol in lieu of French fries. The same is true at Cubbie’s restaurant in Beaufort, North Carolina, and at uncounted other American restaurants. But a slight crack has appeared in the ice sheet chilling relations between the United States and France.

Members of Congress have formed a French caucus, apparently unprecedented, to follow French issues and promote better communications and relations. And one of the group’s first members (30 from the House, 12 from the Senate; a majority Republican) is none other than Representative Bob Ney, the Ohio Republican who helped bring freedom fries to Capitol Hill menus in exasperation over France’s opposition to U.S. war plans.

This is far from suggesting a widespread warming to France, a recent article in the political magazine National Journal notwithstanding. The magazine’s cover, showing a Frenchman at a café reading Le Monde with a satisfied smirk on his face, bore the provocative caption: “The French Were Right.”

The French were right? OK, I can’t even say that and keep a straight face.

–==Discuss This==–

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