Thought For The Day II

Things I've found interesting in the past, that didn't get the kind of attention that I thought they deserved:

-At the same time the US was trying, in vain, to convince the UN Security council that war in Iraq was necessary, and when all of the nay-sayers were touting the line that a Security Council resolution was absolutely manditory for the US to send it's troops onto foreign soil, and at the same time they were saying that all the Americans were interested in was oil, the government of France sent it's troops into Cote D'Ivoire to protect French economic interests - Security Council resolutions be damned.

-Many commentators, before, during and after major combat operations in Iraq, have called American's actions there "unilateral" in nature. This, despite the fact that the American government has always presented it's case openly to the world, and has enjoyed the support of numerous other nations in this endeavour. What is never mentioned is the fact that during the American attempt to get an unnecessary 18th resolution through the Security Council the President of France, M. Jacques Chirac, boldly announced to the world that no matter how much support the Americans could muster, the government of France would use it's Security Council veto to ensure that the resolution would not pass. In other words, he was perfectly willing to act unilaterally to prevent armed actions against one of his country's biggest military clients.

-Osama Bin Laden was captured by the Sudanese government in the mid nineties and offered to the Americans, who already suspected him of being behind terrorist attacks against American targets. Bill Clinton decided for unfathomable reasons that it was too much trouble (not glamorous enough? doesn't turn the chicks on?) and let him go. Interestingly, the Democrats have been able to spin the theory that Bush's eight months in office (receiving his intelligence from a spy network both legally and financially crippled by his predecesor) make him equally guilty for not getting Bin Laden.

This is fun. Me like blogging.