http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6953928.stm

Subtle but significantly telling change in French policy.

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McCain 2008
"We make war that we may live in peace"
"...peace is the highest aspiration of the American People. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it, we will never surrender for it, now or ever."
"War critics can no longer credibly argue that we are losing in Iraq, so now they argue the war costs too much."
"Oderint dum metuant"
http://members.cox.net/neddy/bobhope_kerfuffles.wmv
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RnfflRNpwKA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=j-QYIP7o2-A

tell us how it changed

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"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
-Dr Seuss
You should have heard what i meant to say (apologies to Thelonious Monk)
"The police are not here to cause disorder....
...The police are here to preserve disorder."
Hon. Richard J. Daley
Chicago, 1968

Its obvious.

__________________
McCain 2008
"We make war that we may live in peace"
"...peace is the highest aspiration of the American People. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it, we will never surrender for it, now or ever."
"War critics can no longer credibly argue that we are losing in Iraq, so now they argue the war costs too much."
"Oderint dum metuant"
http://members.cox.net/neddy/bobhope_kerfuffles.wmv
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RnfflRNpwKA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=j-QYIP7o2-A

Obviously, France could very well become a valuable ally in the war against terrorism -- i. e. Iran, Syria, Hamas, al Qaeda, and all their cohorts.

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http://www.freedomswatch.org/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

When religion ruled the world...wasn't that the Dark Ages?

I think its stupid that more countries, specifically major powers like France and Germany, aren't involved militarily in Iraq. Even if they had disagreements about the invasion, that is long ago, the focus now is training the Iraqi military and police and anyone with a modern military and available troops should help do that. Clearly we won't see nothing more than diplomatic gestures like these visits, because French leaders have a nice history of being the pawns of public opinion polls.

Not that it would help if they were militarily involved. We all know from Afghanistan they just sit around and do nothing, while Americans, Canadians, and British soldiers are sacrificing their lives at alarming rates.

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"Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives." — John Stuart Mill

France's foreign minister paid an unannounced and highly symbolic visit to Baghdad on Sunday — the first by a senior French official since the war started and a gesture to the American effort in Iraq after years of icy relations over the U.S.-led invasion. Bernard Kouchner said Paris wanted to "turn the page" and look to the future.

A top American general, meanwhile, said Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard had 50 men training Shiite militiamen in remote camps south of Baghdad.

Kouchner said he was not in Iraq to offer initiatives or proposals but to listen to ideas on how his country might help stop the devastating violence.

"Now we are turning the page. There is a new perspective. We want to talk about the future. Democracy, integrity, sovereignty, reconciliation and stopping the killings. That's my deep aim," Kouchner said in English after meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hosyhar Zebari.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070819/...q_070819193437

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http://www.freedomswatch.org/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

When religion ruled the world...wasn't that the Dark Ages?

Sarkozy met with Bush in Kennebunport, I think that's a good sign that they plan to work together more. Plus he made the "even family members disagree" speech. I think the two will try to work together more and have more success as well. Sarkozy strikes me as more amiable in general. Despite Iraq (and the rude Parisians) I hope we do work with them more in the future.

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JMS gets another English lesson:

Quote:

there is no "mostly unique;" thats like saying "sometimes always," its an oxymoron - its either one or the other.

The result:

Quote:

By the mid-19th century unique had developed a wider meaning, “not typical, unusual,” and it is in this wider sense that it is compared. The comparison of so-called absolutes in senses that are not absolute is standard in all varieties of speech and writing.

you'll fight to the last of someone else's blood.

What does this comment have to do with France showing a sign of reconciliation with the US? And what does your fallacious comment have to do with Iraq? Besides the logical fallacy inherent.

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JMS gets another English lesson:

Quote:

there is no "mostly unique;" thats like saying "sometimes always," its an oxymoron - its either one or the other.

The result:

Quote:

By the mid-19th century unique had developed a wider meaning, “not typical, unusual,” and it is in this wider sense that it is compared. The comparison of so-called absolutes in senses that are not absolute is standard in all varieties of speech and writing.