Now that the election is over CNN can begin to tell the truth about France. The first evidence was from Lou Dobbs Tonight, ah, tonight:
DOBBS: As American troops are battling terrorist and insurgents in Iraq, France has decried the legitimacy of U.S. operations in Iraq. Meanwhile, France has refused to support the U.S.-led assault as France itself is taking military action in the West African country of the Ivory Coast.
...PILGRIM: But France's strong military response puts it in a tough position. France has condemned the United States for military intervention and so-called nation building in Iraq, but now it wants the United States to back its operations in Ivory Coast.
JAMES CARAFANO, THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: It's incredibly self- serving of the French to really criticize the United States on its efforts to bring stability in the region of the world, when really the French are doing the identical thing, and really in one respect, I think, it just shows the shallowness of the French criticism. It doesn't really reflect the realities of the world, and it's very self- serving.
PILGRIM: France went into Ivory Coast as an arbiter of civil war, but is also protecting commercial interests. Fourteen thousand French expats live in the former colony. Ivory Coast is the producer of nearly half of the world's cocoa, and there are also 100 million barrel of potential offshore oil reserves.
It is all cool though, because the neo-cons aren't involved.
