I haven’t taken part in the France bashing going on throughout the SDMB, but this incident isn’t going to help France’s image, here or anywhere else.
If France wants to put on an air of ungratefulness (is that a word?) for the assistance of Americans, British, and Canadian soldiers during the two World Wars, in whatever capacity the assistance was given, that is fine. If France wan’t to adopt a policy of non-involvement, that is their perogative.
However, vandalizing a cemetery which holds the remains of people who gave their lives for France, and who have nothing at all to do with the current war in Iraq, is pathetic.
My point is that it will not help keep France from continuing to be the butt of jokes. It was an embarassing incident for the French government, to be sure, and I am sure that however the government of France feels about the US and/or our involvement in the war, they are shocked that this incident happened at all.
Indeed. You can’t blame all French people for this act of vandalism anymore than you could blame all pro-lifers for the few who have murdered abortion doctors.
Well morons that hold an entire country responsible for the act of a couple of drunk bigot 18 year olds, will probably get in a bunch about this. The rest of us will move on, and think about how much of a fucked up world we live in where stupid things like that happen.