At a time when our president
and other politicians tend to apologize for our country's prior actions,
here's a refresher on how some of our former patriots handled negative
comments about our country.
______________________________
JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when DeGaule decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaule said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible.
Rusk responded, "Does that include those who are buried here?"
DeGaule did not respond.
You could have heard a pin drop.
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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."
You could have heard a pin
drop.
______________________________
There was a conference in France
where a number of international engineers were taking part, including
French and American. 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., British, 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 the Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's
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...
Robert Whiting, an elderly
gentleman of 93, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took
a more than just a few minutes to locate his passport, as he searched
through his carry-on bag.
"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. Americans
always have to show their passports on arrival in France!"
The American senior gave the
Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, ''Well,
when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate
this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport
to."
You could have heard a pin drop.
Russian version