Well those silly frenchmen really are a piece of work.

Their troops participate in NATO exercises but they are not members of the decision making branch. This makes so little sense...

Fine by me though.

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Earlier this week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his country would end four decades of self-imposed isolation and return to Nato's military command.

Here, the BBC's Allan Little reflects on France's long journey to reconcile itself with one of the darkest chapters in its history and its difficult relationship with the US and the UK.

There is a story about a conversation between General de Gaulle, who, as president of the French Republic, telephoned his American counterpart Lyndon B Johnson, to inform him that France had decided to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty alliance.

Since its foundation nearly two decades earlier, Nato had had its headquarters in France. Now Nato would have to move.

Furthermore, de Gaulle added, it was his intention that all American service personnel should be removed from French soil.

"Does that include," Johnson is said to have replied, "those buried in it?"

Ouch.
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Oh...I really like this part.

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France, he said, had made peace with Germany... but it could never - never - forgive the British and Americans for the liberation

But go to the cemeteries of Normandy and you see what an Anglo-Saxon business the D-Day landings - and the liberation of France - really were.

The historian Andrew Roberts has calculated that of the 4,572 allied servicemen who died on that day on which, in retrospect, so much of human history seems now to have pivoted - only 19 were French. That is 0.4%.

Of the rest, 37 were Norwegians, and one was Belgian. The rest were from the English speaking world - two New Zealanders, 13 Australians, 359 Canadians, 1,641 Britons and, most decisively of all, 2,500 Americans.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7942086.stm

so we are to blame for helping them against their enemy at the time????

I personally don't hate france I would love to see the Eifel tower and try some of there whine, but yeah there leaders are hated and loved by there people and others around the world just as much as our leaders our.

TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING FRENCH:
1. When speaking fast you can make yourself sound gay.
2. Experience the joy of winning the World Cup for the first time.
3. You get to eat insect food like snails and frog's legs.
4. If there's a war you can surrender really early.
5. You don't have to read the subtitles on those late night films on Channel 4.
6. You can test your own nuclear weapons in other people's countries.
7. You can be ugly and still become a famous film star.
8. Allow Germans to march up and down your most famous street humiliating your sense of national pride.
9. You don't have to bother with toilets, just **** in the street.
10. People think you're a great lover even when you're not.

I went to Paris to see the Rosetta stone mainly.

Having accomplished that I will never go back.

Bastards...

Right...cause we, as such perfect Americans, and others are any better in history, words, and actions.

This is interesting news and I agree it's ridiculous, but don't try to act so high and mighty about it - you're just contributing to the common notion of how Americans think they are so great. And no, I do not "hate" France, but their politics and government does need work. Oh but then again...so do many others.

When the populace has seen that all sorts of concessions and indulgences are yielded it, in the same name of freedom it has imagined itself to be sovereign lord and has stormed its way to power, but, naturally like every other blind man, it has come upon a host of stumbling blocks. IT HAS RUSHED TO FIND A GUIDE, IT HAS NEVER HAD THE SENSE TO RETURN TO THE FORMER STATE and it has laid down its plenipotentiary powers at OUR feet. Remember the French Revolution, to which it was we who gave the name of “Great”: the secrets of its preparations are well known to us for it was wholly the work of our hands.

Frogs are classified as insects now. Good to know.

hmm those silly frenchmen also have universal healthcare, and they dont charge for a college education like this ****in coutry does

France is so arrogant that they spit on the very people who saved them from Nazi occupation. There are French people who resist current French policies because they remembered the sacrifices others made for their freedom. The younger French could care less. Not all French people are so Narcissistic but the country of France itself can KISS MY HAIRY WHITE ASS! There is a reason they are called Frogs...
It is their HUGE bigoted mouths.
Paris is not the center of European culture. That credit goes to Prague In the Czech Republic, home of the Bohemian Revolution France tries SO hard to take Credit for. Artistically Speaking the credit then goes to Rome, Italy, and Denmark! More Danish and Italian artists are recognized over French artisans as classic masters.
French arrogance knows no limit and their hubris is legendary. Do not ever let them negotiate peace, they would only piss everyone off and make the fighting worst!

Heck, if French wine in general was all of that why does California, a single state in our country recognized as the #1 wine maker of the world? Even American Champagne is better bottle for bottle. Only snobs who think they have taste tout French Champagne as the best! Why don't they boast beer? Because the world knows Germany is Number one there!

Keep in mind I do not hate french people, I hate French politics and the French Government!

so where does the money come from for this?

we didn't save them from nazi occupation.

I am French and English and German, an American and a Lesbian.

This is one time I am actually speechless.

lol

And WHO'SE version of history are you going by?

France was saved by a coalition of several nations and OURS took the hardest beating of all of them! So all o fthe Dead American Soldiers Buried in France died there because????

Save your breath Andy. This one hates Americans as much as she hates other people. You are wasting your time bro.

Thanks to this one I now give the flag the finger during the anthem....I am ashamed that myself, my bro, and my father served this country....her...and every hateful one like her.

Don't misunderstand...I am still proud to have served America.

I think the French are hated because, like Frank Sinatra, they have always done it their way.

As for who helped whom, well, the French aided the American Revolution, and neither that nor D-Day was out of any sense of charity on the part of the saviours.

Easy there, I don't hate France.