hi,

Well,you've certainly heard about Hussein's capture.Very very good news!!i would say "bravo to the American army and to president Bush!!"I support him and his decisions since the beginning and i'm happy for him!!A lot of people said shocking and awful things about him and about the English Prime Minister,but,they have been courageous and have followed their work for the freedom of iraqi people!!
A big bravo to both of them and their administrations!!

Mmmmm if only that really was for the freedom of Iraqi people ...

Ha!Here we are!
it's not good to say that the US,particularly a republican president,has done a good job?!
If you think about petrol,he's not the only one who is interested and ,as a politician,you can't blame him for that!!Hussein killed his own people for decades,and today,thank to the US,they're free to have a new government and not to be afraid of a Hussein's come back anymore.

Hi Dilo,

First I want to say I love America, my children are actually US citizens, I am not communist or anything like that, I am everything but anti-US. And yes Saddam capture is good news indeed. But now :

If you want to believe Bush is a good president, up to you.
If you want to believe his administration sent hundreds of boys get killed, not to mention thousands of Iraqis civilians, and spent billions of American taxpayers dollars only for the sake of a safer and better world, up to you.
If you want to be believe that the Iraqis are now having something anywhere near the freedom you or I may enjoy, up to you
If you want to believe that it is a coincidence that all the multi-billions dollars contracts in Iraq are being awarded to the same companies (e.g. Halliburton) who actually bankrolled Bush's campaign, up to you.
If you want to believe the war in Iraq is not a weapon of mass distraction (where is Bin Laden ?), up to you
If you believe that as a politician he should not be blamed for that, up to you

Personally my belief is that the president is supposed to serve the interests of the american people, not just a selected few rich friends, even if they got him elected. But that's just up to me....

Wonder why the US don't go and free North Koreans next ? Could it be because there is no petrol there, and that they really have WMD ?

I know my friends in America are for the most part worse off since he got elected. As far as I can see he hasn't done much for the economy (except of course for the petrol and military industry), the education, the health system, civil liberties.... But all this is not really important because Ladies and Gentlemen, We Got Him. Yeah right.

So if you believe we should all be thankful to the Bush administration, up to you....

Hey after all my kids still believe in Santa Claus.

Well, I think you all have very good points (even the points that don't necessarily agree with each other).

My American friends also say that George W hasn't done much (ok, not much at all) for the country....but underneath it all, I think just like the movies, that Americans still dream of a happy ending where there is victory, the bad guys are caught and the people they freed can live happily (or at least with more chance of happiness than before).

Even if George W may not have had the Iraqi people's well being as his absolute No 1 priority (ok, or even the 2nd or 3rd after oil), I still like to think that at least the soldiers who went to fight believed in freedom and what they were doing (well, at least most of them till they started getting killed in larger numbers)

George W aside, at least with Saddam caught, he can no longer be a phantom, 'out there somewhere' kind of thing, and some people will have some peace of mind that 1 dictator at least is gone.
And maybe there can be some more hope that Bin Laden will one day meet the same fate.

I don't normally even mention politics (I care more for people, not issues and sides) but those are just some of my thoughts.

Kate

Hi Yannick,

I understand that everybody have their own opinion about him.
About North Korea,I'm sure that if the Us would go there,you would hear"ah,he's taking himself for the master of the world" or stuffs like that!!If they act,it's not good.If they don't act,it's not good either!!!In France,medias are not neutral and that's why I'm shocked about it.About Iraki people who are killed,american soldiers don't kill thousands iraqis:terrorists do.They perfectly know how will be the effects on us.
You're right when you say that's up to me.I tell you what I've heard and you'll understand why I defend him so much.Ok,I've heard "he's a dictator ,just like Hitler and Saddam Hussein";"he's dangerous for a peaceful world(HUMM!!)or even "he 's the terrorist number one!".
Well,don' t tell me that you can bear such words!!
To change of subject;I wish everybody to spend a nice Christmas day and my best wishes for 2004 .

Dilo,
I don't know what you heard about North Korea and South Korea coz we don't here so much about it in France. But I can tell you American are there, there are american military camp along the boarder... Last year during protest against war in South Korea, US told to Korean if they are against war, American can leave and let the South Korea alone... As far as I heard about it, there is still the war there, and ships sometimes can be sunk...
So instead of saying, media don't say the truth, try to find the right information, travel to see what's happen or just talk with native...
But as you wrote everyone has his own opinion... but try to decide how to make it...

Pascal

Pascal,

I 've made researches on North Korea.Check out this site :
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2340405.stm
I guess you know that presidents of democratic's country,like the US and England and the others cannot tell everyone what really happens there!They're communists and can be dangerous for everybody.When I talked about the medias,it was about Iraq.In France,news are actually on Irak and then,to the French's holidays,and at least,on football!To answer to your question,I read different points of views before making my mind up!!I dont know if you can watch french Tv but,really,they are not neutral!And I don't say that to support Bush!They say news,of course..it's their job!!But,if you listen to them carefully,you find out that some of their expressions,looks and the manners of saying infos are not neutral.That's all.

About the French TV, i know how it is, that's why I don't have Tv in my flat in France... An example, last summer lots of old people died because of hot temperatures, so everybody ask me about that abroad... but is anyone know how many old people died each summer??? just to compare...
As soon as you speak or show picture you can't be neutral, even when you are writing in this forum...

About the link do you really think BBC is more objective than the French media???

A last point, who is a terrosit and who is a member of resistance?? I think it depends where you are...
We are living somewhere so we got a specific education who make us believe different stuff, and it is same in every country... Another example with Korea, 10 years ago, children learnt North Korea is bad, we have to fight against, now children learn, North Korea is your brother... they are preparing the unification, when it will be, we don't know yet, but they are preparing by education...

"We" impose our view of the world instead of thinking together...

Finally I don't understand your different posts, one way is you are glad of those news and afterward you speak about media who speak about terrorism and dictator...

Hi Pascal,

I won't argue with you for years cause obviously,we don't agree on some oints.I'll answer to your question.
Yep,i do think that BBC is more objective than the French TV.They're not on the american's president side but they're more neutral than the french tv.
You told me "Finally,I don't understand(...)".
Of course i'm glad that Iraqis will know freedom.It will not be easy for the new iraqi government to make things up after years of dictature but,they won't have to fear Saddam Hussein,nor his sons,ever again.And that's wonderful for them.That's what I said in my first post.
At last,you told me in your previous e-mail "So instead of saying,media don't(...)"
You did not understand,or perhaps,I haven't been clear(sorry for my english then
).I wasn't talking about media when I talked about what i've heard but by people I know.

Salut,

après beaucoup de reflexion, j'ai quand même une question : Pourquoi tout le monde écrit des posts en anglais alors que tout le monde est francophone ?

Bonne journée à tous. Didier.

The topic begun in English... It's interesting to speak politics in English, isn't it? and I think Englis speakers could be interesting by this topic... Mais j'avoue que j'ai penser pour mon second post a ecrire en francais car il est bien meilleur que mon anglais

Ah skwall ! quel esprit d'ouverture pour nos amis english speakers, c'est trés appréciable. Toutefois, depuis 3 ans que je suis en Australie, j'ai du me résigner à ce que les discussions politiques ne soient pas le sujet de conversation de prédilection des australiens. Le sport, les enfants, la vie de tous les jours, ils sont intenables.
La politique !?...C'est quoi comme sport ? on est champion du monde ? c'est dans quel pays la finale cette année ? C'est sur chanel 9 or 7 ?...
Comme je l'ai entendu de francais vivant ici depuis longtemps : "C'est en arrivant en Asutralie que j'ai commencé à beaucoup m'intéresser à la vie politique française!!!".

Enfin, cela n'empèche pas de profiter d'une superbe journée sur Sydney.

Didier.

Mouais... les francais ferus de politique et les australiens qui ne s'interessent qu'au sport, c'est un peu court.
D'ailleurs, Didier, tu soulignes que tes amis francais commencent a s'interesser a la politique francaise en Australie ! Peut-etre que les australiens commencent a s'interesser a la politique australienne quand ils sont en France .

En tout cas, j'ai (relativement) souvent rencontre des australiens qui m'ont parle politique, meme si effectivement ce n'est pas leur sujet de conversation numero 1. Mais cela m'a l'air aussi tres vrai des francais, a moins que l'on appelle parler politique le fait de se plaindre que les impots sont trop eleves, que les hommes politiques sont corrompus et autres lieux communs.

1. Without being a "peace and love" type of guy, I would like to ask you how can you positively support a war?!?!
2. Talking about G.W. Bush, you have raised a very good point by saying that he hasn't done much for his country. What terrorists came to hate first about the USA is their Imperialism, in my opinion, not its ideals or the foundations of the American society. Now everything is mixed up thanks to decades of outstandingly bad foreign policy. This war is an example of it. And a illustration of his very wrong interpretation of 'for the good of the american people'.
3. I think all citizens of the world should vote for the next USA presidential elections, because we don't want to put up with a guy whose aim is to govern us without us having a word at it.