When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by
the
Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of
empire building by George Bush.
He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many
of
its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom
beyond
our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return
is
enough to bury those that did not return.
It became very quiet in the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~
Then there was a conference in France where a number of international
engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a
break
one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you
heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft
carrier
to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to do,
bomb
them?' A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly:
'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several
hundred
people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical
power
to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to
feed
3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand
gallons
of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen
helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from
their
flight deck..
We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?' Once again, dead
silence .
~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included
Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French
Navies.
At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group
of
officers that included personnel from most of those countries.
Everyone
was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French
admiral suddenly complained that, 'whereas Europeans learn many
languages,
Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it
that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than
speaking French? Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied
'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans
arranged it
so you wouldn't have to speak German.
You could have heard a pin drop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE.
A group of Americans, retired teachers, recently went to France on a
tour.
Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.
At
French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his
carry
on. 'You have been to France before, monsieur?'
the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that
he
had been to France previously. 'Then you should know enough to have
your
passport ready.' The American said, 'The last time I was here, I
didn't
have to show it.' 'Impossible! Americans always have to show
your
passports on arrival in France ! ' The American senior gave the
Frenchman
a long hard look. Then he quietly explained. 'Well, when I came
ashore at
Omaha Beach on D-Day in '44 to help liberate this country, I couldn't
find
any Frenchmen to show it to.'
.