February 20, 2003

'Le Soleil' condemns 'Chirac the worm'

French President Jacques Chirac has been called "a worm" by one of the UK's most popular tabloid newspapers in a withering front page attack - written entirely in French.

The Sun's editorial assault - which can only be seen on copies distributed in the French capital - is accompanied by a picture of their target superimposed on the body of an earthworm next to the headline: "Chirac est un ver."

The newspaper tells Parisians their leader has become the "shame of Europe" because of his "constant threat" to veto "any military action intended to apply the will of the UN in Iraq".

"This attitude is all the more hypocritical as everyone says President Chirac will give his support to the UN, the US and the UK in the end," the Sun proclaims.
[...]
In Nato, France joined forces with Belgium and Germany to oppose bolstering the defences of alliance partner Turkey with US military equipment.
[...]
But The Sun, which strongly supports the need for military action against Iraq, says in its front page editorial: "The citizens of the UK believe Mr Chirac's display of arrogance on the international stage is just meant to make his country seem more important than it really is.

It goes on: "We Britons also think you French have forgotten what you owe to other nations, and in particular to the US and to the UK, who came to your aid in two world wars.

"You were only too happy to welcome the Americans when France was crushed under Hitler's boot.

"But today you look down on the American people and their president, and you forget how many American and British soldiers, sailors and pilots gave their lives, as can be seen in the military cemeteries of France, for the freedom of this country.

"Today, the Americans, supported by the other European nations braver than France, prepare to rid the world of another tyrant.

"In the name of our 10 million readers we ask you today: 'Aren't you ashamed of your president?'"

Isn't this great stuff?
God bless The Sun!
I'm so sick and tired of seeing good men and real leaders like George Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard vilified by the masses, based on complete ignorance and cowardice dressed up as pacifism that it's absolutely marvelous to see a true fraud like Chirac get made into paté!
Let's hope for the best: that the French electorate will rise up and throw Jacques out and soon.
As a poignant reminder to underscore this story, I'll repost these pictures from only last summer:


"President Bush visits the American cemetery near Omaha Beach at Normandy, France, May 27. "All who come to a place like this feel the enormity of the loss. Yet, for so many, there is a marker that seems to sit alone -- they come looking for that one cross, that one Star of David, that one name," said the President in his remarks. "Behind every grave of a fallen soldier is a story of the grief that came to a wife, a mother, a child, a family, or a town."



President Bush salutes a veteran during a Memorial Day service at the Saint Marie Eglise Church in Saint Marie Eglise, near Normandy, France, May 27.

[This veteran could have been my dad or my boyfriend's dad as they both proudly served in the U.S. Army in Europe in WWII.
I think it goes without saying that they faced "even odds" of ending up under one of those crosses, too, in which case there would have been no me and no boyfriend, but thank the Lord they didn't. But they took that risk--by being American, being over there and for France's folly, among other things.]