[358 winchester]

International Discussions

Back when Colin Powell was Secretary of State he was being interviewed in
England by a group of international reporters when a French reporter asked
him: "Does America expect to retain control of any of the territory you have
conquered recently?"

Powell slowly responded with: "Yes. We will surely retain control of some
territory. It will be like the territory we retained in France after World
War Two. If you will check you will see that we retained an area of about
seven feet by three feet for each American killed in France who is buried
there."



The French reporter offered no response.

______________

Then there was a conference in France where a number of international
engineers were taking part, including French and American.

During a break one of the French engineers came back into the room saying,
"Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an
aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he
intend to do, bomb them?"

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: "Our carriers have three
hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear
powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they
have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a
day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea
water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in
transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck."


"We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?"


Once again, dead silence.
________________



A United States Navy admiral was attending a naval conference that
included admirals from the United States, England, Canada, Australia and
France.


At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of
officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was
chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks, but a French admiral
suddenly complained, ''Whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans
learn only English." He then asked, "Why is it that we always have to speak
English in these conferences rather than speaking French?"



Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, "Maybe it's because
the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have
to speak German."

Once again, dead silence.