My point, and it seemed simple, was that Americans have a short memory - the US was founded partly on "terrorism" and supported by the French.

I just finished reading A Few Bloody Noses, by British historian Robert Harvey, about the War for American Independence. The difference in perspective was fascinating, and Harvey also makes a convincing case for America having been "Britain's Vietnam".

Terrorism - that is, what we now would call "terrorism" if practiced against us or our few friends in the world - played a huge part in the eventual success of our revolution. For instance: Cornwallis' southern campaign failed in large part because the loyalist majority in the Carolinas were frightened into inaction by retaliation from roving bands of rebel guerrillas . . . make that "patriots".

The basic irony about French support of the American rebels, of course, is that it was raised and conducted by an absolute monarchy for imperialistic reasons, to continue their centuries-long enmity against Britain. The mainland colonies were a by-play; the more immediately lucrative prizes were the Caribbean islands. The Court of King Louis had no sympathy at all with the libertarian aims of the Americans; it was a matter of geopolitical expediency.

And they all lost their heads, literally, a few years later.