An Open Letter to France:

We Know Your 'No' to Bush Doesn't Make You Liars

On January 25, 2003, Jonah Goldberg, a syndicated columnist, insulted you, saying, "The French are liars."

Then he went on to make fun of your accent and your skill at cheese-making. He also derided your ambassador to the UN, Dominique de Villepin, and also your president, Jacques Chirac. He chided them for attempting to lift the genocidal sanctions imposed on Iraq. Goldberg insisted the sanctions haven't really been working because of "French efforts to undermine them." He said, too, you "shame" yourself, when you advocate containment against Iraq, just because it worked "in the

These gross offenses to your people and to your nation, appeared in the pages of the Washington Times. To sum up Goldberg's nasty diatribe, entitled, "France's Latent Motivation," it was a smear job on you for having the courage to say "no" to a U.S.-led war on Iraq.

Just Imagine, now, if I had written: "The Israelis are liars."

Well, before the ink was dry on the paper, the cadres from the U.S. Anti-Defamation League would be out in full force. I'd be tagged forever as "a raving Anti-Semite" by one of its media lackeys. Never mind the U.S. Constitution or the Bill of Rights. I'd have breached a big taboo: Calling little Israel a bad, hurtful name. Hughes would have to go.

But, Hughes DIDN'T say, "The Israelis are liars." Jonah Goldberg, however, DID say, "The French are liars."

Will Goldberg have to go? Will Goldberg also be made to apologize? Stay tuned.

It was you, France, who came to our aid during the darkest days of our Revolutionary War. It was your fleet that blockaded the Chesapeake Bay, under Admiral Francois de Grasse, and your gallant soldiers, too, that aided General George Washington's victory over the British forces at Yorktown, in 1781. America's true patriotic sons and daughters will always remember you, and also the magnificent contributions of Major General Marquis de Lafayette to our struggle. I suggest that Mr. Goldberg has excluded himself from this latter category, either because he is ignorant of American history or his myopic political agenda will not permit it.

This is the same Goldberg who recently penned an even dumber piece that suggested the U.S. should "bomb Canada!" After a furious response from our Canadian neighbors to that nonsense, he said that he was only kidding. He also rarely has a good word to say about Islam, and when he's asked to cite an authority for his dubious anti-Arab opinions, he invariably cites the inherently biased Muslim-basher, Daniel Pipes.

Goldberg once unfairly ripped into Yassir Arafat for not being a good "partner in peace," and for rejecting the Zionists' so-called "Most Generous Peace Offer." However, Dr. Jeff Halper, a brave Israeli, in The Link, (10/02 issue), rebutted that cock-and-bull story by clearly demonstrating that the "offer" would have turned a "Palestinian state into a prison, where all the borders [would] be controlled by Israel, and three million Palestinians [would] be living under siege."

Goldberg's inflamatory opinions are his own and, mercifully, reflect the views of only a few mouthy pundits in this country.

France: in response to your courageous stand for peace on Iraq, please know that justice is on your side. I feel confident that most Americans will join with me in declaring: "Vive la France!"