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Our Claims

Claim #1: One of our radio ads asserts that Hussein has no nuclear weapons, or other weapons of mass destruction. How do we support this claim? And what if he acquires these weapons in the future?

Claim #2: One of our radio ads claims that Hussein has no clear ties to Osama bin Laden or other terrorist groups. Can we back-up this assertion in the face of Colin Powell's UN testimony to the contrary?

Claim #3: One of our radio ads claims that a congressional declaration of war is needed to invade Iraq, but doesn't Bush have that already?

Claim #4: One of our radio ads claims our government was told in advance by Hussein that he might invade Kuwait in 1990, but we did nothing to deter him. Can we support this claim?

Claim #5: One of our radio ads makes the startling claim that our government lied to the world before the last Gulf War when we claimed that Iraqi troops were massed on the border of Saudi Arabia, ready to invade. Can we support this serious charge?

Claim #6: One of our radio ads claims that the same people who are proposing the current war were also involved in the first one, and that their lies then should lead us to reject what they're saying now. Who, exactly, are we talking about?

Claim #7: One of our radio ads claims that Bush's plan to invade Iraq is not motivated by the "War on Terror." Can we support this claim?

This archival web page was frozen in its current form for historical record with the commencement of hostilities in Iraq, March, 2003. Only two articles by Harry Browne were added afterwards, from December, 2003 and March, 2004. Some of the news links on the left side may no longer work. All other content is property of the Downsize DC Foundation, formerly known as the American Liberty Foundation. » Two Important Notes...


Those Shameful Frenchmen

by Harry Browne

Harry Browne0

WorldNetDaily recently published a number of outraged letters, blaming the French for every imaginable moral crime—because the French won't join George Bush's crusade against Iraq.

This controversy has provided a wonderful opportunity for people to demonstrate their moral superiority. Oh those degenerate Frenchmen! Dilettantes, cowards, opportunists, moral pygmies. We Americans, we're the brave ones, the defenders of truth, justice, and the underdog. Look at the way we liberated Afghanistan. And now we want to do the same for Iraq, but the craven, cowardly French are standing in our way. And they have the gall to act as though they're the moral ones!

That's the thanks we get for saving France from the Nazis. Those ingrates turn their backs on us—after all we've done for them.

Don't they realize that what we (meaning a previous generation) did in World War II makes them indebted to us forever—obligating every French President to do whatever any American President commands, no matter how violent, aggressive, or irrational?

This is similar to the mother who has a perpetual trump card: "I went through labor for you, and this is the way you repay me. You owe me." Presumably, for the rest of your natural life.

The poor French. They don't realize that their debt will never be "Paid in full."

Don't Forget the Collaborators

And we're not supposed to forget how many of those cowards collaborated with the Nazis.

Of course, Americans are morally superior to the French in that regard—mainly because Americans have never been in the same position. It's easy for people in the safety of their American armchairs to tell how courageous other people should be—that they should stand up to tyranny, endure torture, sacrifice themselves. It's easy when you never have to face the same choices.

Of course, many Frenchmen did stand up to the Nazis. Over 100,000 of them died before the U.S. ever got into the war. And speaking of forgetting things, why have the tales of the heroic French resistance gone down the memory hole?

Self-Interest

Many of the letter-writers know why the French won't join the American crusade. It's because they're playing financial Footsie with the Iraqis. They're shamefully selfish—unlike Americans, who only want to bring peace to the world through war.

Once again, maybe some memories need to be jogged.

It was Donald Rumsfeld, after all, who shook hands with Saddam Hussein in 1983. It was Americans who sold deadly chemicals to Iraq during the 1980s. It was the Reagan administration that provided military intelligence to Iraq in its war with Iran. And it was American ambassador April Glaspie who in 1990 gave Hussein the green light to settle his oil disputes with Kuwait by force if necessary.

One disgruntled Frenchman, writing to WorldNetDaily, complained that French politicians have always been chummy with terrorist nations—such as Syria. He neglected to mention, however, that Gulf War members of the coalition that attacked Iraq in 1991 (including the U.S.) gave Syria billions of dollars—just to get Syria's name on the coalition letterhead. Of course, the Syrians didn't actually fight against Iraq. They were too busy attacking Lebanon to be able to help. But they did give moral support.

Who's out of Step?

And rather than call the French out of step today, perhaps we should notice that people all over the world are siding with the French, not the Americans. Understand that I said siding with the French, not with Iraq.

It was the French presentation at the UN that was greeted with applause—while Colin Powell's accusations provoked stony silence.

Why There's a Difference

Perhaps the WorldNetDaily letter-writers should understand why the Europeans aren't as all-fired eager to go to war as so many Americans are. And the reason has nothing to do with cowardice.

To most Americans, war is impersonal. War is dropping a few harmless bombs on foreign countries, the regrettable-but-heroic deaths of a handful of American soldiers, collateral damage, mopping up, peacekeeping, General Schwarzkopf on TV explaining smart bombs.

But to Europeans, war is personal. Their parents and grandparents—and even some of those living today—have experienced war first-hand. They've seen the destruction of their own homes, the loss of the property they worked a lifetime to accumulate, the murder of relatives and close friends, whole cities flattened, dead bodies decomposing in pools of blood, the brutality of conquering soldiers, damage that's far from collateral, and outcomes far different from what was promised. To them, war is real—not a video game.

Maybe the reason they don't talk in macho terms is because they know what they're talking about.


P.S. I neglected to mention one letter-writer who trotted out the ever-popular coup de grâce. You can't have a discussion about Iraq (or Serbia or Afghanistan or any other Enemy-of-the-Day) without someone mentioning that if only they'd stopped Hitler at Munich, World War II could have been prevented. This assumes, of course, that someone could have stopped Hitler at Munich—a fact not in evidence.

Perhaps someday, after America has attacked Iraq, and then Iran, and then Syria, and North Korea, and Saudi Arabia, Colombia, the Sudan, Zimbabwe, Guatemala, Morocco, Togo, Denmark, and Lapland, people will be saying, "If only they'd stopped Bush at Baghdad!"

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Harry Browne
"George Bush, Lying, and the Dogs of War"

"How Do I Liberate Thee? Let Me Count the Ways"

"Rule-the-World Productions Proudly Presents…"

"Support Our Boys In Uniform"

"Those Shameful Frenchmen"

"What can I do about the war?"

"A Little History Can Be a Dangerous Thing"
To the Point
Mark Fiore has used his talent to comment on many issues. Here his animated cartoons address three of the current war issues.

"Dissent Exposed!"

"What should you do in an emergency?"

"Why we must invade Iraq right now!"
Our Vision
"The United States goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is a well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. If the United States took up all foreign affairs, it would become entangled in all the wars of interest and intrigue, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own soul."
President
John Quincy Adams
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