Publius' Forum

-By Warner Todd Huston

In another episode of "Why the French are Always Wrong", Le Figaro newspaper has published its latest example of how clueless the French are where it concerns what is going on in the world and why it is going on. (See article by Clicking Here)

In an editorial by Pierre Rousselin, titled "Christians Flee the East in Wake of Bush's 'Crusade' ", we are treated to an analysis of how George W. Bush is ruining the lives of Christians in the east with his evil "crusade" against Islam.

Need I say not a word against Islam is mentioned in this editorial? I didn't think that would surprise anyone.

What is amazing about this editorial, though, is the vacuum in which the discomfort of eastern Christians is discussed. It is as if, as far as Rousselin is concerned, there is only one reason, one root cause of this exodus of eastern Christians; George W. Bush.

In fact, the editorial goes so far as to say that the Christians had it good in Iraq under Saddam's brutal regime. Rousselin celebrates how "Christians in Iraq were treated no worse than anyone else" and that they could practice their religion "without fear".

"Treated no worse"? That has the ring of absurdity but should cause, instead, high dudgeon. No worse? How much worse could it have been? Saddam killed millions of his own, funded groups outside his own country that sponsored terrorism, and tried several times to invade neighboring countries and, in the process, killed over a million more. No worse? What an incredibly immoral comment. (Rousselin is also woefully ignorant of how Saddam was increasingly appropriating Islamist rhetoric which would easily lead to the conclusion that Iraqi Christians were not to be "without fear" much longer if one can believe they were in the first place.)

Rousselin acts as if all this turmoil was only caused by Bush's meddling; He went on to say, "George W. Bush wanted to turn Iraq into a laboratory for the new Middle East. Instead, Christians in neighboring countries fear the contagion of the uncontrollable forces that a superficial democratization has unleashed."

In fact, the whole editorial is phrased as if the current wave of Islamist terror is a result of Bush's "laboratory" experiment instead of a result of an increased level of terrorism, an increase to which Bush is responding instead of causing.

Lastly, it is somewhat amusing that Rousselin seems to imagine that Christians in the Mid East might somehow mediate between this "clash of civilizations" now ongoing. Let's face it, the last time Christians living in the Mid East had any real power was hundreds of years ago after some of the real Crusades when Christians held large swaths of territory and commanded large armies to protect them.

In any case, we see aother Frenchman who prosaically views reality from the wrong end. He sees the tail wagging the dog where it concerns from whence terrorism comes. And it is just the latest example of why the French are so clueless.