Some days it is impossible to determine who is the the dimmest bulb in the dark Chirac marquee™. We usually accord the honor to Mdm. Alliot-Marie, a Defense Minister uncertain of the standing of her army, uncertain if the CIA operates in France, and chronically misinformed about her troops abroad. Ah, but today the prize goes to M. Douste-Blazy, a re-tooled Health Minister, who is completely lost in his present commission. [Hat tip: The indispensible Carine]

Rien ne justifie le maintien en captivité de Bernard Planche. ... Je rappelle que la France n'a pas de présence militaire en Irak et qu'elle a toujours plaidé pour que ce pays soit restauré dans sa pleine souveraineté.

Nothing justifies keeping Bernard Planche in captivity. ... I again point out that France is not militarily present in Iraq and that she has always pleaded the case for a complete, restored sovereignty of this country.

– Statement by French Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy, Paris December 29, 2005

Because M. Douste-Blazy is clueless, we will spell out why France is a terror target:

1. France is the Eurarabic beachhead. Islamite terrorists hope to transform France's disaffected and alienated Muslim population into the tipping point for their pan-Islamite project.

2. France's colonial past is not forgotten. Islamite terrorists resent French claims of special relationships and sway over her former colonies. France's past exploitation and criminal treatment of colonial Muslim peoples is an unsettled -- unsettleable -- score for many Islamites.

3. France is a weak horse. Islamites are not big on talk, France's métier. Terrorists are not shrewd judges of political will, they simply push until they are slapped back. Terrorists consider special pleadings, like M. le Ministre's above, as a signal to push harder. Islamites are spoiling for a fight. The kafir who hesitates, negotiates, accommodates, appeases is considered pathetic. Weak. Vulnerable.

4. Islamites are not interested in the "complete, restored sovereignty" of Iraq. They are interested in an Islamite world order.

5. Contemporary France, even a cringing secular humanist France, cannot be re-fitted into a Eurarabic caliphate. It's an open question whether fabled moderate Islam can be squared with Western values, but it's a sure bet that radical Islam can't. Anyone paying attention to the Islamites knows they are not for squaring.

6. France has sided with America in the war on terror. Who does M. le Ministre think France is fighting? Malefic pixies? Unlike the French, Islamites don't make finical superficial distinctions. And if you have declared against terrorism, well, terrorists can figure out who you mean.

7. Lastly we remind M. le Ministre that Islamites hold a special grudge against France for the Battle of Tours. It was between Tours and Poitiers at the confluence of the Clain and Vienne, that France [!] denied Islam hegemony over Christian Europe. This was not simply a one-off battlefield victory, it was a humiliating rout of superior Muslim forces and the undoing of Islamic ambitions and power in Europe.

PFFT (What is this?): Pourquoi nous détestent-ils tant? 5 | Rayonnement français 0

Bonjour,

" Islamite terrorists resent French claims of special relationships and sway over her former colonies. France's past exploitation and criminal treatment of colonial Muslim peoples is an unsettled -- unsettleable -- score for many Islamites."

C'est sûr, les grands démocrates yankees ont EXTERMINE les peuples indiens qu'ils ont colonisés !
Et ceux qui survivaient ,ils les ont parqués dans des réserves !!
Pas de ressentiment de ces peuples à attendre !
Mais pas de leçons de droit de l 'homme pour les yankees génocideurs à donner non plus comme ils le font constamment !

Rappel :
Algérie 1830:2 millions d'habitants.
Algérie 2005:32 millions d'habitants.

""USA"" 1700:30 millions d'Indiens
USA 2005:2 millions de "natives americans"
(Admirez au passage la délicatesse de la dénomination politiquement correcte pour dire "survivants du génocide" !)

Good luck for your country in Irak and in Bolivia !

M. AB/AY,

Yes, well, to exploit the aboriginals as cannon fodder and economic slaves for the profit of France, we can see why France had been so careful to cultivate Algerians as a renewable resource. Until they had enough and kicked France out of their country. And those Harkis who threw in with France, yes, well, bonne chance !

But your comparison is incomplete. You need to add to your French tally Cathari, Huguenots, other Protestants, Jews, Catholics from the Vendée, les Noyades, victims of la Terreur, les Communards, a wide assortment of Europeans, a wide assortment of aboriginals from the French colonies...is there any group the French have not sliced up a treat? Since we know you want to make an honest and persuasive argument we look forward to your revised tally.

But as interesting as the above may prove, none of it is germane to the post. M. AB/AY, we realize it is too much to expect you to follow the sense of an argument, but just what does American treatment of its aborginal peoples have to do with Islamites pronouncing France their enemy No.1? As far as we know radical American indians are not plotting terrorism against America. Islamites from former French colonies are plotting terror against France and cite grievances from French colonialism as their rationale. You seem to have trouble grasping the here and now. You might want to apply for a position in the French cabinet.

Good luck with your sorry country, your sorry foreign minister, your sorry government, your sorry economy, and your sorry rayonnement français. No, really. Good luck. Oh, and good luck with that dog shit problem in Paris.

Bonne et heureuse année!
DGB

Anti Brit/Yank, I believe we had this conversation before. A vast majority of Native Americans died of disease brought over by the Europeans (that includes France); England, France, Portugal, Spain, and the Dutch also had a vast colonies throughout the America’s which I’m sure contributed to the demise of the natives.

Native Americans also have a high rate of marriage with non-natives. That’s why you’re much more likely to find someone who is part Indian as opposed to full Indian.

Happy New Year. May France’s unemployment rate drop another 0.1 percent.

Native Americans also have a high rate of marriage with non-natives.

(Not to mention a higher rate of alchoolism and other social ills).

You need to add to your French tally Cathari, Huguenots, other Protestants, Jews, Catholics from the Vendée, les Noyades, victims of la Terreur, les Communards, a wide assortment of Europeans, a wide assortment of aboriginals from the French colonies...is there any group the French have not sliced up a treat? Since we know you want to make an honest and persuasive argument we look forward to your revised tally.

Indeed, let's compare two thousand years of political turmoil and warfare with two hundred years of relative peace and prosperity during which:

Native Americans are wiped-out, Africans are enslaved, the Chinese become the original boogeymen, Jews are not welcome, "Japs" are interned in camps and darker American citizens can't breathe the same air that "Whites-only" can or sent-off to fight world wars for the glory of the United States as long as they keep their place.

Note that besides anti-semitism, none of these policies of hate ever happened in evil France which at least stopped waiving its flag in the name of le Tout Puissant a long time ago.

And as for the Harki reference, Damian, I suggest looking up at the equally shameful but far more devastating in consequences of the US bailing out of Vietnam...

Happy new year.

LOL at Anti Brit/Yank.. he's like a little Anti-American doll. Pull the string and a little anti-american sound bite comes out. Sometimes repeated....as was his Indian fact.

Besides, numbers mean nothing....lets try some, shall we.

Blacks in America
1700 -- 1000
2005 -- 38.3 million

Hispanics in America
1700 -- 5000
2005 -- 38.3 million

Asians in America
1700 -- 10(?)
2005 -- 13.1 million

Darn, I forgot something...

Good luck to your country in the 'burbs!

Our French correspondents are content with their tu quoque glosses about dark America. The French apparently can live with any shame as long as they are satisfied America -- or in a pinch just about anybody else -- is worse. So a reach-back to the nisei who were interned but not murdered is OK, but mention of the contemporaneous internment and murder of French Jews by French compatriots is beyond polite discussion. In modern times there are few western states that can equal France's shame, but there's always that American Indian thing.

Our French correspondents are not bothered a jot that their Foreign Minister has no clue why French citizens are targeted by terrorists, the subject of this post. We imagine the terrorists -- or, respecting French sensibilities, the valiant insurgents -- will keep raising the stakes till M. Douste-Blazy and our French correspondents get a clue about what's going on.

We invite our French correspondents to check back and let us know your thoughts about the treatment of the American Indian and the rest after a few Frenchmen have lost their heads to insurgents or activists bomb your Metro.

Bonne année!
DGB

@Andy

1)Les Noirs vous les avez fait venir de FORCE comme esclaves et ils étaient encore victimes de pendaisons racistes dans les années 30.Tout le monde a vu ces photos de yankees ivres de haine pendant ces malheureux.L'affaire Dreyfus ,affaire qui a pourtant traumatisé la France, n'a jamais pris ce cours barbare qui s'est répété des centaines de fois chez vous ...

2)a)S' il y a des hispaniques aux USA c'est déjà parce que la colonisation espagnole ne les pas exterminés comme vous avez exterminé les Indiens aux Nord.
b)Ils ne font que venir sur des terres ,volées au Mexique par les USA il y a à peine 100 ans.Ils sont CHEZ EUX .Et j'espère bien que majoritaires ils réclameront leur rattachement au Mexique Puisque c'est semble-t-il la politique que vous avez préconisée pour le Kosovo serbe).
En tout cas il existe des mouvements hispaniques qui réclament ce rattachement et peut-être Washington subira-t-elle un jour des bombardements russes ou de l'UE comme Belgrade Qui sait ?

3)Pour les Asiatiques , on dit aussi que les Chinois sont très persécutés du fait de la montée de la Chine qui vous fait concurrence.Ils sont écartés de certains emplois.Est-ce vrai ?

4)De toutes les façons , vous vous arrogez le droit de faire entrer qui vous semble bon sur ce territoire.MAIS DE QUEL DROIT ? OU SONT VOS DROITS DE PROPRIETE ? VOUS N' ËTES PAS CHEZ VOUS ! VOUS ËTES DES COLONS GENOCIDEURS DE SURCROIT !

Good luck for your country in Irak and in Bolivia !

OK, Damian, I get your hint...stay on topic. But I beg your forbearance to respond to our little buddy in this thread....then I'll promise to stay more on target!

1) I doubt they were drunk “Yankees”. They would have been “Rebels”. US Civil War was “Yankees” in the North, and “Rebels” in the South.:) So, you still judge the US on actions from the thirties?

2) Oh, dear. We went over that “extermination”/kind Spanish Conquest thing already. Please read previous posts.
B) There are millions of Hispanic people in cities in the US that were never under Spanish control. As for Bosnia, there are many here in the US who do not believe that the formation of an “Islamist state in Europe” is the right idea….not everyone thinks the same way in the US. You are aware of that, right? This article was in the Washington Times last week. I think you will enjoy it.

3) The Chinese are not persecuted because of the rise of China. Most Americans are not even aware of rise of China. Most Asians in America are highly educated and are highly represented in technology jobs, math, science, etc. There are many foreign college students from Taiwan.

4) Please see first part of 2. I read a good book that you should read. It’s called How the Indians Lost Their Land Click here and then click on “Read an excerpt in PDF format". You see, at the risk of sounding like Ward Churchill, I am part Indian. 1/64! AND ALL AMERICAN! Not enough Indian to mean anything, but enough to ensure my interest in Indian history...

Have you ever been to America? You should visit and get your own answers to some of the statements above…. We will not bite, I promise.