March 15, 2003
Saddam, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship... (politicaobscura)
Jacques Chirac and Saddam Hussein in Baghdad in 1974. This is, I suppose, somewhat unfair. Politicians have their pictures taken with lots of people who might turn out to be sadistic dictators armed with weapons of mass destruction and a grandiose world view. On the other hand, my wife wonders if they were lovers. Posted by David Cohen at March 15, 2003 9:41 PM
Saddam, I believe this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship...
Posted by: politicaobscura at March 15, 2003 11:48 PMThat was so good I stole it.
Posted by: David Cohen at March 16, 2003 12:04 AMHere's the best Chirac story:
When Valery Giscard d'Estaing was president of France, he once described M. Chirac with a memorable metaphor. "Chirac
can have his mouth full of jam, his lips can be dripping with the
stuff, his fingers covered with it, the pot can be standing open in
front of him. And if you ask him if he eats jam, he'll say: 'Me?
Never, Monsieur le President!' "
Get a load of those neckties.
What are we waiting for?
You're right, it's not fair to condemn Chirac as a Saddamophile solely on the basis of one picture. For example there's a picture of Bush at the ranch with the Saudi king that makes me cringe because the respective postures seem to place Bush in a subordinate position to the King. However, Bush's actions since the photo clearly indicate that's not the case, whereas every action Chirac has taken since as only reinforced the snap decision the photo would lead us to make.
Posted by: MarkD at March 16, 2003 12:32 PMDavid: "On the other hand, my wife wonders if they were lovers."
Come on
. He's French
.
Of course they were.
Chris:
Typically it's the British who fell in love with Arab men.
MarkD - Believe me, I wasn't condemning him based solely
on this picture.