In Defense of France

DENIS BALIBOUSE — EPA/REUTERS

AFTER YOU: Dominique de Villepin rubs some Americans the wrong way

First, a confession. Last winter, during the interminable debates at the United Nations before the invasion of Iraq, I thought — and wrote — that if the U.S. and Britain went to war against Saddam Hussein, France would join them. That was a triumph of cynicism over judgment — a cynicism shared, though this is no excuse, by top officials in the U.S. State Department — and it was, obviously, dead wrong. France stayed out of the war. For a few months, this seemed like a catastrophic error on France's part, as Saddam was toppled and the Bush Administration puffed...

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