Travel Office Job

I can't claim to be very "in the know" at my rarely attended Travel Office job. Most of the volunteers that I work with are USC alumni with grandchildren. It is for that reason that I just found out that a lot of people cancelled trips to France after the UN decision regarding the Iraq war. I guess this fact doesn't surprise me, but it makes me re-think about that choice by the French to not support the UN resolution and why it has been perceived by many in America to be an enormous betrayal.

For our generation, I think we take for granted NATO and alliance developed over the 20th century between France, Britain, the rest of Western Europe, America, Australia, Canada, as "protectors" of the free world. For my lifetime, America has been strong enough to stand on her own and not need help from anyone else...and yes, there is that tendency because we are so rich and powerful for us to treat our allies as poodles. How can one not, when you don't really need their material support?

But the people who work in my office were alive during WWII and remember the great alliance that defeated fascism. They remember the huge sacrifice Americans made for liberating Europe when confronted with an existential threat. And for people whose lives are marked by a) WWII and b) the Cold War, it goes without saying that we stood by France and Britain in their time of need because it was the right thing to do. So it was the perception that when America was in need of support, not material, but ideological, as the virus of anti-Americanism around the world exploded on 9/11, and America decided it was high time to do something about the it....it was at this moment when France decided to take not a stand with America, but instead, a stand against America. To this generation, that was an insult, a tragedy, and a stabbing in the back.

Yes, America has had her hands in dirty things over the years. And yes, Iraq isn't a perfect bet. But haven't we, after all this time, and by virtue of our behaviour over the past 200 plus years, earned, moreso than any other nation, the benefit of the doubt?

The answer in 2003 by France was NO. The consequences:

1. France provided "cover" for other nation-states, such as Germany, to also oppose the Iraq Resolution.

2. Forced America to "go at it alone," which reinforced both at home and abroad the sense that America was a bully.

Imagine for a moment that France had supported us with Iraq. The UN Resolution would have been pushed through. It would have taken the steam out of the anti-war movement much earlier. It would have signalled the UN, as an institution, stood for something other than than an autocrats club writing resolutions condemning Israel. It would have been a signal to the world that post 9/11, the WORLD stands against rouge regimes, and not just America. Things would be different, mostly for France, but for all of us.

What they did sucks and unfortunately will be remembered for a long time in diplomatic circles, I imagine.