The sight of Iraqis dancing in the street and welcoming troups should certainly make all those that obstructed the UN from enforcing its own resolutions feel vindicated. Nothing like knowing you tried to prevent liberation to make you feel good over in France is there?.

It is not in France's best interest to allow the UN help rebuild in Iraq unless they can blackmail a lucrative rebuilding deal because they will loose all ability to chant told you so told you so. France can't stand the idea of a free and democratic Iraq making their prewar stance look ludicrous. Can't have that pretense of visionary French world leadership punctured can we?

As for the Palestinians We also have this quaint idea in the US that criminals should stop acting like criminals before they are no longer treated as criminals. While Israeli treatment does contribute to hopelessness I'm quite sure poor economic prospects have more to do with it. I've seen interviews with concerned Palestinian parents indicating as much. The Al-queida manual Tom posted a link to decrying economic prosperity as sapping on the supply of dedicated suicide bombers should also be a clue. Israel should try not to treat all Palestinians as criminal, but that requires fighting human nature to generalize when attacks are coming from all subsets of Palestinians. I believe Israelis would do this on their own if Palestinians would stop the suicide attacks. It is not behavior that reasonable people can relate to.

Snide comments and the fun of deflating self delusional French fantasies aside I believe with all my heart that you and Mary-Anne are good well intentioned people. I just think you are both buying a bunch of hogwash from others in part as over reaction to justifiable mistrust of Bush.

Regards,
Mark