At a time when our president and
other politicians tend to
apologize for our country's
prior actions, here is a
refresher on how some former
patriots handled negative
comments about our country...
JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean
Rusk, was in France in the early
60's when DeGaulle decided to
pull out of NATO. DeGaulle said
he wanted all US military out of
France as soon as possible.
Rusk responded "does that
include those who are buried
here?
DeGaulle did not respond.
You could have heard a pin drop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 both French and
Americans. 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 Brit's, Canadians,
Aussie's 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 1944 to help
liberate this country, I
couldn't find a single Frenchmen
to show a passport to."
You could have heard a pin drop.