Why the French Make the U.S. Fried?

I finally figured out all the animosity towards France. It goes way beyond their unwillingness to join in the boondoogle formerly known as Iraq. Perhaps you saw this story this weekend, as our Secretary of State Condi Rice "renewed the U.S. commitment Sunday that foreign forces would remain in Iraq until the fledging nation 'can defend itself.'"

Of course, without aid from France, the United States probably wouldn't have beaten England when we won (1781) our own independence, a bit after we declared it (1776) and a bit before we got around to the constitution thing (1789), but years before democracy was a soundbite and an excuse.

So maybe what Condi and by extension the White House (where her husband, uh, boss lives, at least when he's not out for a bike ride) means is France should still be occupying, uh, working to "transfer responsibility to the U.S. security forces" and "equip and train the U.S. security forces as quickly as possible."

Since the U.S. clearly can't defend itself yet.