*When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by
the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example
of empire building by George Bush.
*
*He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many
of its fine young me n and wo me n into great peril to fight for freedom
beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in
return is enough to bury those that did not return.
*
*It beca me very quiet in the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Then there was a conference in France where a number of international
engineers were taking part, including French and A me rican. During a
break one of the French engineers ca me back into the room saying 'Have
you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft
carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended
to do, bomb them?'
*
*A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have
three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are
nuclear powered and can supply e me rgency electrical power to shore
facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000
people three me als a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of
fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen
helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from
their flight deck.. We have eleven such ships; how many does France
have?'
*
*Once again, dead silence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included
Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French
navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large
group of officers that included personnel from most of those countries.
Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a
French admiral suddenly complained that, 'whereas Europeans learn many
languages, A me ricans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it that
we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than
speaking French?'
*
*Without hesitating, the A me rican Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because
the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and A me ricans arranged it so you wouldn't
have to speak German.'
*
*You could have heard a pin drop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE
*
*A group of A me ricans, retired teachers, recently went to France on a
tour. Rob ert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by
plane.
*
*At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his
carry on "You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer
asked sarcastically.
*
*Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.
*
*"Then you should know enough to have your passport ready."
*
*The A me rican said, "The last ti me I was here, I didn't have to show
it."
*
*"Impossible. A me ricans always have to show your passports on arrival in
France !"
*
*The A me rican senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he
quietly explained. "Well, when I ca me ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in
'44 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find any French me n to show