Some Untenable Analysis - Reader comments at The New York Sun

Recent Blog Posts

Reader comment on:
France's Permanent Intifada

Submitted by Abu-Shaia, Oct 29, 2006 15:24

One premise of this article is that France's not joining the Iraqi War was based on French fear of its Muslim population. I would argue otherwise. The Iraqi war was partly fought, by the US, against France. France was making large amounts of money by illegally circumventing the Food for Oil sanctions against Iraq. Just as the Dollar is largely backed by Saudi oil the French were trying to back the Euro with Iraqi oil.

There is no reason for us Americans to be ashamed of behaving in ways that benefit our national interests. The shame is that we don't do it smartly enough. Our war in Iraq was perfectly legal and justified according to the terms by which Saddam surrendered in '91. Still we are hearing all kinds of nonsensical arguments discussing our comparison to various Fascist countries of the past and our enemies can only sight inferred facts because the truth does not conform to their view of our reasons for war. Bush is portrayed as some new kind of Hitler mingled with a crusader-king. Meanwhile, the body count in Iraq is inflated by shoddy science and stat analysis, which has been collaborated by no other agency and yet has become the popular truth. Various enemies of the US or its current leadership put standards to our War in Iraq what no war has been required to fulfill. War is cruel and we fight it in forms that hope to least cruel as our mission allows. Utopian critics put standards of perfection on what is often half understood anarchy used to create order. The French can't even treat their Muslim citizens fairly when they aren't in a state of war. War is unstable. Victory makes order possible.

In France we have a population of the submissive. If they had a few more Marquis DeSade's and a few less collaborators and Vichy Realpolitikeers perhaps they would find a way to assert proper civil authority. The fact that the French have created such bad circumstances for immigrants is wrong. It is more wrong that folk will revert to mob violence in order to get what they desire. It is this incivility that led to the French Revolution and to all the other bastard children of this revolution, most notably the ones in Russia and China. It seems as though the whole French population has contracted the sort of detached ineffectuality of the Versailles Court in its final years. I suggest that the next time they need us to save them from an enemy we send them a response that makes clear our debt for their help during our War of Independence had been paid in full with the two World Wars and this time they can figure it out themselves like we will in Iraq. One hopes the welfare system does not take our whole civilization down with those in Western Europe. Good luck.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.

Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
i have read and seen the effects of this so-called "intifada" in France. I have seen how devastating it can... [MORE]	jan	Nov 16, 2006 19:36
I dont recall my self to be interested in religios mattters or spiritual aspects of humans or whatever... Although I... [MORE]	Julia B.	Feb 21, 2008 15:07
The French have another real problem on there hands. I don't think they can lay this mess soley in the... [MORE]	Kevin	Nov 15, 2006 01:19
Dear Az, it is you who are ignorant or pretend to be one. The rioting muslims do not want to integrate... [MORE]	G	Nov 14, 2006 23:16
It is true that the french have a very rigid job market. French employers prefer to remain overstretched than to... [MORE]	Steven	Nov 1, 2006 22:38
Millions of immigrants came to Europe during the last 50 years. I get the impression that during the next 50... [MORE]	Jay Jay naidoo	Nov 15, 2006 00:08
France's inequality for its Muslim citizens coupled with laxed laws and weak law enforcement, a true recipe for disaster. I... [MORE]	Lidia	Nov 1, 2006 21:52
You were doing fairly well as you talked about the French inability to assimilate it's immigrants into society. The need... [MORE]	John	Nov 1, 2006 08:59
I am a frequent traveler to France and one thing you will notice in France is that the high level... [MORE]	Al C.	Nov 1, 2006 08:43
I'm an American living in France. This commentary is completely misleading. First of all, Paris does not ressemble Ramallah in... [MORE]	Deb	Oct 31, 2006 08:19
I have been to the slums of France and i have been and worked in the slums of America. There... [MORE]	don turco	Nov 1, 2006 10:17
As far as this article goes, DEB, I believe that the author was simply stating that in the U.S., despite... [MORE]	Tivo	Nov 28, 2007 14:26
The public bus service is my city was permanently shut down because my city council members rejected the support of... [MORE]	Harold Leese	Feb 1, 2008 21:19
If as you seem to think France doesnt have the means to main peace within its own borders. I don't... [MORE]	FreedomFries	Oct 30, 2006 21:23
I mean, yes, it's obvious that the situation is worrying. Yet, after reading your article and your suggestions to get out... [MORE]	FreedomFries come from Freedomland	Oct 30, 2006 21:08
Where is Oriana Fallaci now that the world needs her? The right and the left dismissed her views, but history... [MORE]	Vincenzo Terranova	Oct 29, 2006 20:48
As relates to Israel, they often make tactical errors and errors based on an optimistic hope for peace. As relates... [MORE]	Abu Shaia	Oct 29, 2006 16:19
Give them an inch, they're gonna want a mile. [MORE]	JBM	Oct 29, 2006 16:17
One premise of this article is that France's not joining the Iraqi War was based on French fear of its...	Abu-Shaia	Oct 29, 2006 15:24
Unless level headed members of this "faith" get control of the increasingly radical bunch, they are in for an eventual... [MORE]	J.	Oct 29, 2006 14:36
Frank, You very wisely asked the precise question that we all need to be asking our governments. Perfect!! The time will... [MORE]	Wayne	Oct 29, 2006 09:19
The blame for the "failure to integrate its Muslim community" cannot be attributed to misguided French policies. That would be... [MORE]	Arthur Dieli	Oct 29, 2006 01:16
Hoipolloi, it is not quite right to say Muslims are ignorant of Christianity. Islam believes that Jews and Christians received... [MORE]	haim	Oct 28, 2006 21:27
We in Europe for years ignored the problem of people in a country but not part of the country. Britian... [MORE]	cliff	Oct 28, 2006 16:34
I worry for Europe....Great Britain, Holland, France, Italy, Germany, and other parts of the continent. I worry that they are... [MORE]	Deborah	Oct 28, 2006
Well when unemplyment is high, police kill youths and goverment is arrogant of the issue regardles if its muslims or... [MORE]	sam	Oct 28, 2006
The recent event in Paris again shows that appeasement does not work. The French never seem to learn from their... [MORE]	Stupidity	Oct 28, 2006
I 'm beginning to think Australia is the only country left with a will to survive. They have, in several... [MORE]	aramkr	Oct 27, 2006
believe me, the intifada has less to do with religion and more to do with a popular uprising caused by... [MORE]	amjad	Oct 27, 2006
Then it must be lack of self worth for these young men. What future do they have ? Work must... [MORE]	Maggie	Oct 27, 2006
You are so right about France. We can and must win the War on Terror, but we will lose if... [MORE]	Hyatt Seligman	Oct 27, 2006
Islam this, Islam That,..Muslim this Muslim that...I mean I try to understand your point of view, the least I can... [MORE]	Values	Oct 28, 2006 23:29
It is interesting that both religion cliam to be from GOD. I preaches you get eternal life through LOVE, and... [MORE]	Henry Weinmeister	Oct 27, 2006
This is not an issue of racism it is an issue of some selected muslims who are uneducated and who... [MORE]	Zain	Oct 27, 2006
"France would do well to send troops to fight the islamists in Iraq" CORRECTION: not "in Iraq", but "in France". [MORE]	joe Kaffir	Oct 27, 2006
Joe, the problem the French government and military are also facing is that now 15% of the French Army are... [MORE]	Dave	Oct 27, 2006
The problem is that the french people are in a state of denial. They keep speaking of "problems with "disaffected... [MORE]	Parisian	Oct 27, 2006
None [MORE]	alex	Oct 28, 2006
The French are in the fight of their lives. No one is going to help them this time. Not one... [MORE]	Miles Allen	Oct 27, 2006
If you listen closely to what French government officials have been saying and watch what they have been doing recently... [MORE]	Michael Finkelstein	Oct 27, 2006
Having read the Koran with it's central tenet that forced conversion to Islam is one's duty I think the the... [MORE]	Daniel Hearn	Nov 17, 2006 11:34
"Islam is an ideology on non-integration", I think you are grossly ignorant. There are lots of muslims who have integrated... [MORE]	AZ	Oct 27, 2006

Reader comment on:France's Permanent Intifada

Other reader comments on this article

Comment on France's Permanent Intifada

Reader comment on:
France's Permanent Intifada