Paris and the Aftermath #3

Two final observation on  the terrorist attack in Paris. They are not related to each other but both need comment on.

1) It was around 12 years ago that France decide not to participate in Bush's invasion of Iraq. At that time many Americans were outraged that France, a country that had been set free because of the efforts of the American people during WWII ( an exaggeration if there ever was one) would not support  the right of the American government to attack another country. Throughout the USA there were silly attempts to express that anger by deciding that "french" toast or "french" fries needed to be called by some other name so that, one assumes, that Americans would not need to sully their lips with the name of such a terrible people. The French were vilified, accused of being cowards and it seemed that on each of the late night talk shows there was a mandatory joke demeaning the French.

Somehow in the past few years and more specifically in the past week or so, the character of the French has changed. They are no longer cowards refusing to fight but rather they are people who need to be supported and encouraged to continuing to attack the enemy. They are being portrayed as heroic, as being noble, as being world leaders in the fight against terrorism.

 Of course the French have not changed at all. The media are just playing with us - telling us who are the good guys one day and potentially the bad guys the next. It is hard to believe anyone would be that gullible.

2) It is interesting to read some of the more conservative columns in our mainstream press. Immediately after the terrorist attack, writers started to suggest that new Canadian government's plan to with draw our jets from the skies of the Middle East needed to be put on hold. I think the argument is that the terrorist attack is clear proof that we need to bomb them more - that if we keep dropping bombs on them - eventually ISIS will be defeated.

I think the argument could be made that if, after all of the bombs that have been dropped on ISIS  (Yahoo news states that there have been over 8,000 air strikes (Yahoo)), ISIS still has the capacity to engage in terrorist attacks - perhaps the bombing strategy is not working. But then what do I know?