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Summary: Try Reading the Book before You Review It
Review: I find it amazing that these posters making negative comments about the book are pretending to have read it. They clearly have not and are simply making their political points. These people are too obvious and should quit it.Children, all.
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Summary: Excellent book from a man who knows the French (18 years)
Review: If you want to know about the French and their duplicity with the Iraq situation, then read this book. It is stuffed with facts, interviews and figures from a man with plenty of experience with the French. He has written for countless medias, both from the Left and Right, and gives a balanced look of what really happened, without stepping over any lines. Pay no attention to (the few) extremely negative reviewers below, because I can guarantee you they did not read this book, but are just frustrated partisans trying to discourage people. This book is a tell-all that is sure to embarrass and haunt the French for decades to come. The Saddam-French soap opera, along with the corrupt UN oil-for-food scams (that the French had a huge part in) is just getting underway. Expect to see more and more news on this, as the weeks go by. The French cannot hide from this massive, negative exposure and the American people should know about how they were stabbed in the back for Iraqi oil/weapon contracts, debt repayment (from illegal weapon sales), coupled with an anti-American agenda, that has been rife for decades in France. As a person who can read the French language, I have already seen a lot of this exposed in some of France's own medias, but this is a wonderful book that puts all of the facts together, coupled with countless examples of inside information/quotes, for an excellent read. Definitely a page turner! Know thy enemy and the enemy seems to definitely be the French, especially their current leadership, under Chirac.
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Summary: Another Case for "Freedom Fries"
Review: The title of this book alone should inform the reader that the author, Mr. Timmerman, is a neo-con and unabashed supporter of the Iraq War. With the War taking the disastrous turn that many opponents predicted and feared, it is typical of the neo-con mindset to look to deflect blame elsewhere. In this case, it's France for electing not to join the 'Coalition of the Willing' for lack of evidence and out of fear that a War in Iraq would (A) divert resources from the legitimate war on terror; and (B) destablize Iraq causing it to become a spawning ground for terrorists. Given that France has learned fromt he painfullession taught bt losing all of its colonialist conflicts since the end of the World War II, who better than they could recognize a quagmire when presented with one? Looking back at U.S.-French relations since 1960's, there have been several instances where France has sought to chart its own foreign policy independent of the United States. Perhaps this was due to France returning to its Gaullist tendencies or alternatively motivated by France's unique political interests. The truth is that labelling France's opposition as a "betrayal" is tantamount to labelling anyone who criticizes the Bush foreign policy as a traitor. John Ashcroft has essentially uttered these exact words. History will prove that the Iraq War was not motivated by a desire to bring democracy to the region or to protect legitimate American interests, but rather to advance the interests of the Bush family's oil cronies and the privatized war industry which which Richard Cheney has long been associated. To reduce the motivations for French opposition to the war to "greed" is to ignore the motivations of certain Americans for bringing about the war in the first place. Author Timmerman represents the mentality of many Americans who conveniently ignore history and reality and have resorted to renaming French Fries "Freedom Fries," French Toast "Freedom Toast," and so on. We can only assume that the next victims of the villification procession will be the Germans, Russians, Canadians and any other nation that voiced opposition to the war. "Freedom Bacon," anyone?
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Summary: C'est Vrai...
Review: I've grown up loving French culture and literature and lived in Europe for a chunk of my life so I went into reading this book with some scepticism. Timmerman is neither blatently biased one way or the other nor trying to portray the current Bush administration as perfect. He is telling his view of his interviews and informal talks...and this is done very well...in accordance with factual history. If you are looking for sound concepts on a truly tragic issue...the division of France and the U.S....look no further...a great many questions are answered...and our leaders should pay attention to whom they share information (especially defense technology) with...
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Summary: Wow! A must-read!
Review: Regardless of one's views on the Iraq war (I'm undecided), most Americans (war supporters and war protestors alike) were puzzled by France's ardently vicious, even hysterical, opposition to the war in Iraq. At first, the initial opposition just seemed rooted in the common anti-American sentiment found in France/Europe. However, after a few days, and after Mr. Chirac devoted all his time to seeking out allies for this opposition, many started to wonder WHY the French government was taking it so personally! No government would go this much out of their way just to promote "peace." Can anyone really believe that France and Mr. Chirac would go on such an intense campaign against the war simply because they believed in the war was morally wrong? C'mon! There had to be more to this... This "more" is what Mr. Timmerman lays out, with irrefutable evidence, in his book. I found the book to be an outstanding testament to what France's true motivations were -- not peace, but rather greed. France did not want to see Saddam deposed because that would ruin it's oh-so-lucrative multi-billion dollar deals with the dictator's regime. In other words, France felt that allowing Americans to depose a dictator who unspeakably tortured people and, many argue, posed a threat to global security, came in second to its greed for oil and money. As Timmerman explains, France/Chirac had a cozy, quid-pro-quo arrangement with one another which was incredibly lucrative for both: France would sell Iraq top-secret military techology and weapons in exchange for Iraq's oil and money. Putting aside the fact that selling military technology and weapons to a ruthless dictator and world-safety-hazard like Hussein is highly questionable, what's even worse is the way the European media and Mr. Chirac refused to admit that this lucrative relationship was France's actual reason for opposing the war! Ironically, many uninformed, unread individuals claimed AMERICA was going to war with Iraq for oil, yet it seems it was Mr. Chiraq and the French who were the oil-mongers... Mr. Timmerman's book gives the reader all the facts he or she is looking for, and then some. This book stands as a testament to the fact that, as truth seekers, we must always search for the true motivations behind a government's stance.
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Summary: Ill researched and filled with LIES
Review: Ken Timmerman, leader in the Log Cabin Republicans, uses his 15 minutes of fame to spout bush administration lies that he purports to be his very OWN lies. This book is only for the choir.
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Summary: another piece of propaganda
Review: Did Chirac or Villepin lie to Bush?
Did Saddam and Chirac have a close relationship?
If you waste your time reading this book, you will have
the pleasure of knowing the fabricated answers. Did Bush, Powell, Rice lie about WDM?
Did Bush lie about the link between Al qeada and Iraq?
Did Bush decide that torture was needed to extract useless information from innocents when the US pretends to be in high moral grounds? Spend you money on Woodward, Clark and wilson books... An advise from another french traitor :-)
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Summary: Disgusted With France
Review: I am no expert on these matters, but I too am impressed by the rich detail presented by Mr. Timmerman in The French Betrayal of America. I believe it is a must read for everyone who has witnessed French behavior in the media for the past several years. The corruption of French administrative officials, political parties, and heads of industry boggles the mind. No wonder they feel at home with Arab despots. From what I read of the historically French centralized government, I wonder whether France will be able to survive as a democratic western nation on its own. Maybe it will have to become a client state to the Muslim Middle East. Can France's economy survive without Iraq?
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Summary: Childish one-sided view of US's allies
Review: If France was effectively supporting Saddam during the 80's, it was obviously to contain the Iranian revolution, AND in solidarity with the US hostage crisis.
America in the meantime didn't understood the danger of islamo-terrorism, and stupidly armed and supported terrorists in Kosovo (UCK), Bosnia, Chechnya. It also went blind to the warnings of French and Egyptian intelligence before sept. 11... During Iran-Iraq war, France was almost a co-belligerant, helping Iraq to fight the iranian mullahs. Saddam thanked France by sending cash: so what ?
The "journalist" Timmerman forgets to state that Donald Rumsfeld met with Saddam many times. He also forgets that France participated in the Kuwait liberation war in 1991, and that French troops were the closest to Baghdad in feb. 1991. They sent a message to the US CENTCOM, saying that Baghdad was an open city, and that they could wipe-out Saddam from power, with limited air assistance. Of course, MM. Bush and Cheney declined... The author is also forgetting to mention the only real links between bin Laden and and a State: The disgusting business links between M. Dick Cheney and the Bin Laden family, through the Carlyle group. America should stop this childish game of thinking they are "Good" and the rest of the world is either "corrupted", or "evil". America is a great country, land of freedom, but it is populated with human beings, and managed by greedy politicians, like any other country.
The Iraqi prison scandal is not "unamerican" as stated by M. Rumsfeld: it is in the contrary very HUMAN and therefore very AMERICAN.
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Summary: So racism is fine coz they ain't black or jewish?
Review: ...how perversely convenient.American individuals who call the French 'cowardly' and 'traitors' are forgetting that USA mindfully turned up late to WW11 (+ WW1 for that matter) whilst the French lost 2/3 of their adult male population, fighting alongside the British to stop 'the nazis' from taking over the world.
Remember this- (given that the Nazis would NOT have stopped at just Europe, and would have strenghtened immeasurably if succeeded) If it weren't for the French Resistance's contribution, America would be a German-speaking country by now.And, any remaining jews would have long been killed off.Where was USA when France (+ Britain) needed them?
This book is good only if as a sequel to "America's Betrayal Of France And Britain".Vive la France and USA alike! The shoes fit on both feet.
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