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 men and women 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.

During a break one of the French engineers came 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 intend 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 emergency electrical power to shore
facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000
people three meals 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?’

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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, Americans 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 American Admiral replied, ‘Maybe it’s because
back in ‘44 the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans 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 Americans, retired teachers, recently went to France on a
tour. Robert 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 American said, “The last time I was here, I didn’t have to show it.”

“Impossible monsieur. You Americans always have to show your passports
on arrival in France !”

The American senior gave the French man a long hard look.

Then he quietly explained. “Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on
D-Day in ‘44 to help liberate this country, I couldn’t find any darn
Frenchmen to show it to”