"Whoaa, who knew? Geeee, maybe a big part of the problem WAS THE ATTITUDE OF THE TOP GUY IN FRANCE."

If our stinking "news media" _wanted_ success in Iraq (i.e., if it were to have benefited a _Democrat_ president) we would have been seeing, for years now, stories about how Chirac, not Bush, is "the problem."

And Hollywood would be making movies showing our troops bravely saving Iraqi and Afghan lives, and giving candy to children ...

If a _Democrat_ president had given the vote to Afghan women, our "news media" would not be able to stop shrieking that he must get the Nobel Peace Prize.

http://news.yahoo.co...

U.S. ties with France likely to shift

By DESMOND BUTLER, Associated Press Writer

Tue Mar 13, 9:28 AM ET

French-American relations are set to shift as France chooses a successor to President Jacques Chirac, who has defined himself on the world stage as an opponent of American dominance.

With Chirac's long-expected announcement Sunday that he will not seek another term, French elections beginning April 22 provide an opportunity for the allies to strengthen cooperation unhindered by rancor between Chirac and President Bush.

While the two nations have cooperated in recent years on many issues dear to Washington, relations between the two presidents never fully recovered from Chirac's vehement opposition to the Iraq war.

On Monday, Bush — through a spokesman — wished Chirac well in his life after politics.

"The United States and France have been and will remain steadfast partners and allies," spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

Some analysts say new leadership in Paris — and within two years in Washington — will help return the relationship to a historical norm characterized by cooperation occasionally interrupted by respectful disagreement.

"Chirac and Bush were oil and water," said John Hulsman, a visiting scholar on trans-Atlantic relations at the German Council on Foreign Relations. "It leaves an opening for whoever is the next French president."

Relations have improved since a nadir in ties in 2003 when France organized opposition in the United Nations against a push by the U.S. and the Britain to obtain a Security Council mandate for military operations in Iraq. Both sides have since tried to improve the tone of public dialogue and worked closely on issues including counterterrorism and promoting democracy in the Middle East, recently in Lebanon.

Even at the height of the tension, the two countries created an international anti-terrorism mission in Paris — known by the code-name "Alliance Base." Officials often say that cooperation below the presidential level has never faltered.

But there has been a sense in Washington that some bilateral issues including trade and resolving NATO's post Cold-War role would best wait for a new top French negotiating partner.

"The perception is that Chirac has been a very weak leader for the last few years," said Karen Donfried, a senior director of the German Marshall Fund and a former State Department official in the Bush administration. "He is seen as someone who can't deliver."

As Chirac leaves the French political scene after decades of prominence, some in the U.S. wonder whether his oft expressed view — fashioned after Charles de Gaulle — that France could lead other nations to check Washington's overwhelming influence will pass with him.

There is optimism here that a less Gaullist successor — perhaps one of the three leading candidates to succeed him, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, 52, Socialist Segolene Royal, 53 or centrist Francois Bayrou, 55 — will seek closer ties with the U.S.

"All of them show shades of being committed Atlanticists," said Julianne Smith, director of the European program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"Whoever wins, there are new personalities coming on both sides of the Atlantic who won't bear the baggage of the last few years."