UN Leaders
“ Iraq To Chair UN Disarmament Conference.”—CNN.com
headline, Jan. 29. Iraq was chosen by an automatic rotation process. Iraq’s
co-chair for the conference is Iran.
Germany Is Convinced
“ Iraq has complied fully with all relevant resolutions and
cooperated very closely with the UN team on the ground. We think things are
moving in the right direction.”—German Foreign Minister
Joschka Fischer, Washington Post, Jan. 21.
Debating Societies and Backbone
“ I believe when it’s all said and done, free nations will not allow
the United Nations to fade into history as an ineffective, irrelevant debating
society. I’m optimistic that free nations will show backbone and courage
in the face of true threats to peace and freedom.”—President
George W. Bush, in remarks at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., Feb. 13.
Allons, Enfants
“ Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without
an accordion. You just leave a lot of useless noisy baggage behind.”—Jed
Babbin, former deputy undersecretary of defense, MSNBC “Hardball,” Jan.
30.
European Support
" We in Europe have a relationship with the US which has stood
the test of time. ... The transatlantic relationship must not become a casualty
of the current Iraqi regime’s persistent attempts to threaten world security.
... Our governments have a common responsibility to face this threat. Failure
to do so would be nothing less than negligent to our own citizens and to the
wider world.”—Op–ed article, signed by Prime Ministers
of Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and UK and the President
of the Czech Republic, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 30.
French Fried
“ It is not really responsible behavior. It is not well-brought-up behavior.
They missed a good opportunity to keep quiet. ... If they wanted to diminish
their chances of joining Europe, they could not have found a better way.”—French
President Jacques Chirac, lashing out at nations (especially European Union membership
candidates) who signed the op–ed article and a later letter backing US
on Iraq, quoted by Associated Press, Feb. 17.
Some of My Best Friends Are Americans
" I’ve known the US for a long time. I visit often, I’ve
studied there, worked as a forklift operator for Anheuser–Busch in St.
Louis and as a soda jerk at Howard Johnson’s. I’ve hitchhiked across
the whole United States; I even worked as a journalist and wrote a story for
the New Orleans Times–Picayune on the front page. I know the US perhaps
better than most French people, and I really like the United States. I’ve
made many excellent friends there; I feel good there. I love junk food, and
I always come home with a few extra pounds. I’ve always worked and supported
trans–Atlantic solidarity. When I hear people say that I’m anti–American,
I’m sad—not angry but really sad.”—French President
Jacques Chirac, Time, Feb. 24.
Customer Relations
“ France, Germany, and, to a degree, Russia, are opposed to military action
in Iraq mainly because they maintain lucrative trade deals with Baghdad, many
of which are arms-related.”—Khidhir Hamza, former director
of Iraq’s nuclear weapons program, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 11.
The Credibility of Iraq
“ Of course they have no credibility. If they had any, they certainly lost
it in 1991. I don’t see that they have acquired any credibility.”—Hans
Blix, UN weapons inspector, on Iraq, Time, March 3.
Holes in NATO
“ A map of NATO with a hole where Germany had been would look odd; but
the map has looked odd for 40 years since the French went their separate way.
Now that the Soviet threat is no more, NATO does not really need Germany, except
for purposes of internal communication. Germany’s armed forces are in disarray,
as are those of France.”—John Keegan, British military historian,
London Daily Telegraph, Feb. 11.
Japan Warns of First Strike
“ It’s too late if [a missile] flies towards Japan. Our nation will
use military force as a self-defense measure if [North Korea] starts to resort
to arms against Japan. ... We differentiate this from the concept of a ‘pre-emptive
strike.’ ”—Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba,
quoted by Reuters, Feb. 14.
Two-Faced
“ Russia, China, and several European governments have been insisting that
the United States cannot take action against Iraq without the full involvement
of the United Nations. So it’s curious to hear those same countries argue
that in the case of North Korea, another rogue state that threatens its neighbors
with weapons of mass destruction, the only solution is unilateral steps by the
Bush Administration.”—Washington Post editorial, Feb. 14.
F/A-22 Math
“ Look, if I have X number of F-15s today, and I buy Y number of F-22s,
and there’s a delta, and the delta is downward, you tell me I’ve
got a bow wave. But if I have X number of F-15s, Y number of F-22s, and Z number
of unmanned aerial vehicles, I’m arguing I won’t have a bow wave.
I don’t reduce my Y, but my Y plus my Z probably does better than my X.”—“Senior
defense official” briefing reporters on Fiscal 2004 defense budget, Jan.
31.
Moron on the March
“ I hope we are all in agreeance that this war should go away—as
soon as possible.”—Antiwar statement by Fred Durst, member
of the band Limp Bizkit, uttered onstage at the Feb. 23 Grammy awards program,
quoted by MSNBC.com.