MM,uncle Sam.. Agreed. What is the point of the UN if they wont be assertive on the sanctions that countries violate? France,Belgium,Germany. Did'nt we liberate and rebuild all those countries,TWICE? It's got to be money with the french,they have given something to Iraq.

Agreed: what's the point of the UN or NATO if these multinational organisations dare express an opinion that different from the American administration's?

I was rather disappointed that Fodors removed your thread, uncle_sam - - on the subject of wanting to mount your own informal boycott of France, Germany, Belgium.<BR><BR>Presumably because I pointed out who is most likely the imposter pretending to be you as &quot;unclesam&quot;.

Not really surprised the french have done this.Just another stunt.It makes them feel more important than they are.<BR>

I'm going to go when I can. I don't think we can spend our lives worried about what may happen--I don't mean be foolish about it. After all the last time they came here.

If the State Department issued a &quot;Do Not Go There&quot; I would not go there. If warning was a be careful one I would go and follow the advice.<BR><BR>We love France. We spend most of our time in Provence. The people there are friendly and the scenery unbelievably beautiful. The French government and its machinations seem far removed from this idyllic place.<BR><BR>I believe that the French government, however,is dead wrong in not supporting the U.S.A. re Iraq and Turkey. I suspect that the reasons/excuses France is taking this stance are that it is 100% dependent on Arab oil and it has the largest pro-rata Muslim population in Europe. <BR><BR>We hope and pray for peace fully appreciating that appeasement of dictators never works.

And BTW, I didn't post those comments to stir up trouble like in the old days. I posted because that is what I believe.<BR><BR>May be right, may be wrong, but they are my beliefs and if others want to go that is their right...no criticism will be forthcoming from me!<BR><BR>US

Hello Vincent,<BR><BR> You seem to have missed a crucial point. NATO members pledge to support and defend each other. Turkey expressed concerns about its security and asked NATO to begin the process of ensuring their protection. France, Belgium and Germany all said (in effect) 'we don't care if you feel threatened'. That is against NATO's very reason for being.<BR><BR>It's called and alliance. Allies stand together they do not stand aside while another is left open and vulnerable.<BR><BR>I'm hoping for peace and I expect Saddam to back down. Even so, those NATO countries that have shirked their responsibilities have disgraced their national honor.<BR><BR>MM

Sorry for the typos in previous posting.<BR>

I enjoy visiting France but I am having a hard time justifying going back. <BR><BR>I think What the French want is a NATO without the USA led by the French. a united Europe with France at the head, God help them.<BR><BR>The Russian's are loving every minute of the division among the traditional allies that were against them during the cold war.<BR><BR> We stopped the Russians from overrunning the German's for fifty years, rebuilt their country and this is what we get in return? I say pull all the troops out of Germany and put them somewhere like Poland or another Eastern European country.<BR><BR>Oh, one more thing<BR><BR>Have a nice day<BR><BR>I do love going to France and probably will go back, oh well.

I don't base my decisions on fear.<BR><BR>Live life!<BR><BR>Just because there's a possibility you can get hit by a car, mugged, walking out your door, does that stop you.<BR><BR>Of course, it's also inept to be oblivious too. I would only heed the strongest of warnings, like war IN France for example.

<BR>You should go. The French people will probably greet you warmly. The main reasons the French gov't is not supporting NATO might be:<BR>1. French cynicism at its worst. The French might not really care what happens to Iraq, they just like trying to stick it to Uncle Sam (the country, not the poster!).<BR>2. French oil and commercial interests, and what might be found out about French (and German) business and military contracts with Iraq.<BR>3. French military sales. When F-16's blast every Mirage they see out of the sky, it makes selling them to other despots more difficult.

Diedre, <BR><BR>. . . got to the hotel in Paris (The Mayfair) after our flight from the US, no record of a reservation, no rooms and no amount of patience or reasoning would convince them that the sheet of paper that I had from my travel agency LISTING THE RESERVATION NUMBER AND THE NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE HOTEL was AUTHENTIC. Half an hour after insisting that they didn't have any rooms, they offered to let us stay in a suite which normally runs for $550 a night for the rate that I had been quoted by the travel agency of $225.<BR><BR>At 7:00am the next morning, the phone rang and we were told that a room was ready for us and that we'd have to move now or we'd be charged full rate for the room for that night. We moved. And we found another hotel, and checked out and the Mayfair tried to charge us $1100 for two nights at the suite rate.<BR><BR>I ended up having to let Visa settle for me, which they did.<BR><BR>4 days later when we turned the car in, we were charged $750 for a dent WHICH WE INDICATED IN WRITING EXISTED BEFORE WE RENTED THE CAR ON THE APPROPRIATE FORM. The agent said that when people wreck these cars they always claim that the dent existed. I wanted to punch him in the mouth. I had my copy of the contract which showed where I had written in that there was a dent on the right rear quarter panel and the agent said that could easily have been written in by me at any time. We didn't have time to argue because of the time it took to check in the car . . .<BR><BR>That's the first incident. I don't hold this against the French (much), there are jerks and theives everywhere.<BR><BR>Diedre, I'll post the second incident if you really care.<BR><BR>Snoopy

Diedre,<BR><BR>You didn't ask, but here it is anyway. We arrived at Les Jardins du Trocadero from the airport via cab. A bellman / porter opened our cab door and my wife got out as I paid the cab driver. We walked into the hotel lobby and before we reached reception the bellman / porter ran inside and said the cab driver had driven away before he (the porter) could get our luggage.<BR><BR>I immediately felt like a dope because I usually am too cheap to pay a bellman /porter to deal with my luggage and I usually get the luggage out of the trunk of the cab myself. I drew a total blank about the name of the cab service and the bellman / porter didn't seem to be much help in that regard either. He couldn't rememeber the color of the cab or the service.<BR><BR>The concierge offered that if the cab driver was a crook we'll never see our luggage and if he is honest he'll return it as soon as he realizes what he has done.<BR><BR>It turned out that the cab driver was honest and TRIED to return the luggage. However, when he tried to deliver the luggage he was told that there was no one by that name registered at the hotel and (he later claimed he insisted) was told to leave.<BR><BR>We left the hotel about an hour later, showered though wearing the same clothes we'd left London in that morning, and walked out of the front entrance to the hotel to find that it was raining and our luggage was sitting on the curb in the rain. We were glad to have our luggage back and when we asked the front desk clerk what had happened and why our luggage was sitting in the rain he replied that he didn't know and we should just be glad that we have it.<BR><BR>Two days later we called for a cab to the airport and coincidence of coincidences the same cab driver picked us up who'd dropped us off. He told us his version of what had happened. He then went on to tell us how he was pretty cranky because he expected us to give him a large tip for bringing the luggage back in the first place but because of the way things turned out, he didn't even see us.<BR><BR>When we arrived at the airport and got our own luggage out of his trunk while he sat in the car, he began to shout at us in French as we walked away. I had given him a tip, but according to the semi-polite guy standing next to me who translated, not enough of a tip.