GrahamLester.Com

I enjoy making fun of the French as much as anyone, but I’m beginning to think that the current estrangement between the US and France is going too far. So, in light of this being the 118th anniversary of the arrival of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, I’ve declared today France Appreciation Day.

So, why did the French oppose the US invasion of Iraq? I think that the main reason, although it’s a rather simple one, has been overlooked. Let me ask you some questions. How much does the average American care about the situation in the Congo? How much is your sleep troubled if you hear a brief snippet halfway through the news that informs you that a couple of thousand people have perished in a landslide in South America, or in flooding in Bangladesh? We don’t like such news, but it doesn’t bother us all that much. Not because we are evil or bigoted, but because such events occur far away, pose no direct threat to ourselves, and cannot easily be fixed. I think that the main reason the French did not support the war was just that they did not view terrorism as an immediate danger to themselves.

Many Americans protested the invasion of Iraq. They pointed to the same arguments that the French did: Why not give the inspectors more time? Why risk increasing hostility against the West in the Arab World? Where is the evidence of any link between Hussein and Al-Qaeda? Why set the dangerous precedent of engaging in a preemptive strike that does not have UN approval?

Those of us who supported the war argued that, given his track record, the risk of allowing Hussein more room to maneuver was simply too great. To ignore the threat would be irresponsible. But imagine if Hussein’s beef was not with the USA but with Russia, for instance. Would we have supported a Russian invasion of Iraq, with its oilfields and all, under similar circumstances? Supposing September 11 had occurred in Moscow, and it had been Russia that had rescued Kuwait 12 years ago. Would we have supported a preemptive strike by the Russians, or would we have urged them to wait?

Of course, my readers are people of principle who have a global outlook and above average intelligence, so they would naturally have taken the position that terrorism was a threat to civilization as such, not just to Russia, and they would have wholeheartedly supported Russia’s invasion of Iraq and even staged rallies for the Russian troops, right here in River City. But would the majority of the US population have supported the Russian invasion, that is the question. Would ordinary people have bought it?

So, I say let us have mercy on our French friends who are really no different from ourselves after all. Yes, I’m looking at you, Den Beste. They were in error in their opposition to the Iraq invasion, but it was a very understandable and forgivable error. The error of the French was to suppose that New York was a long, long way away. They considered that a major attack on a French city was only a very remote possibility. In this, they misunderstood the opportunistic nature of terrorism. Terrorists strike where they can. If they cannot reach their enemy, they will attack an innocent bystander. Is that not what separates the terrorist from the warrior after all? Terrorists, as the Saudi bombings demonstrated, will strike their own countries if they find themselves short of other options. Londoners have lived with terrorism for thirty years. They understand its random nature. People in Paris, Berlin, Brussels, and Geneva do not comprehend how easily, how suddenly, how incongruously, and how tragically, they could become its victims. They do not realize the immediacy of the threat, which was the main argument for the prudence of war.

After the Twin Towers fell, the Statue of Liberty remained as the primary American landmark. It has a message for the Americans and the French. To the Americans it should be a reminder of the shared ideals and historic solidarity of two great nations. And it should remind the French that New York isn’t as far away as they think.

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