Poll This

Reader Martin didn’t like it when I said “screw you” back to our European friends:

Out of every country in the world, what proportion is likely to contribute troops to an invsasion of Iraq? 100%

What continent provides planes for policing the no-fly zones in Iraq? Europe

Who provided, immediately at the request of the American Government, a contingent of Marines to assist American forces in Afghanistan? Europe

Which two Navies fired missiles at Afghanistan on the first day of Enduring Freedom? An American navy and a European Navy.

Your closest allies are from Europe, your closest ally full stop is a pivotal member of the European Union, and yet to bitch about an entire people because of an internal politcal debate. Pathetic.

Martin’s first statement makes no sense. I assume he means “European nation in the world,” but, trust me, Denmark will not be on the front lines of Gulf War 1.5.

The No-Fly Zones are patrolled by Anglo-American forces from Turkish and Saudi bases. Now, until the Channel goes dry and Turkey is allowed into the EU, I don’t think either nation counts as European. And just because parts of Paris are looking more like Riyadh, is no reason to accuse Saudi of being a European country.

Again, except for a smattering of forces, the only “European” nation that helped us to any significant degree was Great Britain. France sent her tiny little aircraft carrier, late, and contributed more to our knowlege of shipboard repairs than the actual war effort. And, by my lights, the UK is not, was not, and won’t be a European nation, and hardly considers herself one, either.

And a poll isn’t an “internal political debate.” A poll is a reflection is current Continental thought — and the refelction reveals that our friends think that 3,000 dead Americans was little more than just desserts.

Unfounded protestations aside, Martin missed my point entirely. My point isn’t weather Europe sends a single soldier or fifty thousand. My point is, when Europeans accuse us of deserving what we got we on 9/11, I’d rather they shut up than pitch in.