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Thu 3 Apr, 2003 06:33 pm
COLIN POWELL QUOTE
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 more empire building by George Bush.
He answered by saying that, "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."
It became very quiet in the room.
Very pretty--but the British are the ones who are buried in foreign soil--"a little plot, forever England". The American Armed forces, on the other hand, pride themselves on bringing home our soldiers--or their bodies.
Not only are we still searching for MIA's in Viet Nam, but a few years ago the bones and dog tags of some soldiers killed in France in WW I were found, identified and shipped to the States for burial.
I like the story--but suspect it is a parable rather than literal truth.
This would imply that the US has no history as an imperialist nation. This is hardly the case. Not to mention the fact of a genocidal campaign against the original inhabitants of our own continent.
Maybe those conference attendees were more aghast than reverently quiet...
Incidentally modern imperialism is less about land than other factors.
IMO everything, and I mean everything said by our current administration(?) is a black hearted lie....but I gotta give Powell props for a damn good comeback, bullshit or not.
The drive from Paris to Calais
Noddy 24, I invite you to drive the farm lands from Paris to Calais (the French port across the English Channel from the White Clifts of Dover). Along the highway you will see small cemeteries dotted with white crosses of fallen US and Ally military. They were buried by the French, primarily, where each of the post D-Day battles occurred in which they died. They are maintained in pristine condition by the French.
Its hard to drive past these small cemeteries without weeping.
BumbleBeeBoogie
BBB--
I've read of the crosses, row on row.
My memory is that they are British and Allied Soldiers--but I could be wrong.
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