General Discussion

This close to July 4, these serve as reminders of all the things we
>
> > are celebrating.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > You could have heard a pin drop. You don't say?
> >
> >
> > When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was
> > asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were
> > just an example of empire building' by George Bush .
> >
> >
> > He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent
> > many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for
> > freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever
> > asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'
> >
> >
> > You could have heard a pin drop.
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> >
> > There was a conference in France where a number of international
> > engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a
>
> > break one of the French engineers came back into the room saying
> > 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an
>
> > aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What
> does
> > he intended to do, bomb them?'
> >
> >
> > A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have
> > three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people;
> they
> > are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to
> > shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to
> > feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several
> > thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they
> > carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and
> > injured to and from their flight deck.
> >
> >
> > We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?'
> >
> >
> > You could have heard a pin drop.
> >
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> >
> > A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included
> > Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French
> > Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a
> > large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those
>
> > countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped
> > their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that,
> 'whereas
> > Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He
> > then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in
> these
> > conferences rather than speaking French?'
> >
> >
> > Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's
> because
> > the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you
> > wouldn't have to speak German.'
> >
> >
> > You could have heard a pin drop.
> >
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> >
> > AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...
> >
> >
> > Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by
> > plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his
> > passport in his carry on.
> >
> >
> > 'You have been to France before, monsieur?' the customs officer
> > asked sarcastically.
> >
> >
> > Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously ..
> >
> >
> > 'Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.'
> >
> >
> > The American said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show
>
> > it.' 'Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on
> > arrival in France !'
> >
> >
> > The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he
> > quietly explained. 'Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-
> > Day in '44 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single
> > Frenchmen to show a passport to.'
> >
> >
> > You could have heard a pin drop.
> >
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Originally posted by Arndur

This close to July 4, these serve as reminders of all the things we
>
> > are celebrating.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > You could have heard a pin drop. You don't say?
> >
> >
> > When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was
> > asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were
> > just an example of empire building' by George Bush .
> >
> >
> > He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent
> > many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for
> > freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever
> > asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'
 

I have no idea about the rest but this one is actually true.  Although it wasn't asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury it was asked by the former Arch Bishop.  It didn't take place in England it took place in Switzerland (I think it was at an economic conference) and the wording of the question was different.  The wording of the answer was a little different as well. 

But the gist is correct. 

Although U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell did utter words similar to the above, he was not in England at the time, nor was he addressing the current Archbishop of Canterbury, nor was he responding to a question about "empire building."

The actual occasion was an address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 26, 2003, wherein Powell defended the U.S. government's position that the use of military force against Saddam Hussein, unilateral or otherwise, was not only justified but necessary if the complete disarmament of Iraq could not be achieved by other means.

In a question-and-answer session afterwards (during which the phrase "empire building" was never mentioned, incidentally), the secretary of state was asked by former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey if he felt the U.S and its allies had given due consideration to the use of "soft power" -- promulgating moral and democratic values as a means of achieving progress towards international peace and stability, basically -- versus the "hard power" of military force.

Here, in part, is how Colin Powell actually responded to Carey's question:

There is nothing in American experience or in American political life or in our culture that suggests we want to use hard power. But what we have found over the decades is that unless you do have hard power -- and here I think you're referring to military power -- then sometimes you are faced with situations that you can't deal with.

I mean, it was not soft power that freed Europe. It was hard power. And what followed immediately after hard power? Did the United States ask for dominion over a single nation in Europe? No. Soft power came in the Marshall Plan. Soft power came with American GIs who put their weapons down once the war was over and helped all those nations rebuild. We did the same thing in Japan.

So our record of living our values and letting our values be an inspiration to others I think is clear. And I don't think I have anything to be ashamed of or apologize for with respect to what America has done for the world. [Applause.]

We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years and we've done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in, and otherwise we have returned home to seek our own, you know, to seek our own lives in peace, to live our own lives in peace. But there comes a time when soft power or talking with evil will not work where, unfortunately, hard power is the only thing that works

 

 

That was great, Andur. Thanks for sharing

I know the discussion about what our bombers could carry and be used for is a true story. But, great stories. Loved the one with the passport too.

lol, all great stories, i enjoyed them all.

All I have to say is great post

The United States has forever sullied its name with this utterly illegal, immoral war of aggression that was launched against Iraq in 2003.

This action is nothing to be proud of.  Unlike the invasion of Normandy to liberate Europe.  Unlike coming to the defense of the Republic of Korea in 1950.  Even unlike our involvement in Vietnam, which at least had some basis in existing alliances to justify it.

Nope, this time we really screwed the pooch.  The "case for war" that we had  in 2003 had all the substance of the attack on Gleiwitz in 1939.

Great stories. It's good to see people defend the country they cherish.

France bashing is fun. I'm glad they funded our revolution so we could form this great republic!

ah, I see it's the official "Americans should pat themself on the back" day today.