Well, there's certainly a bit of "French humor" in it.... Now, to take the issue more seriously, I'd say that Americans should consider the whole 911 crisis the other way round in order to better grasp the European attitude....
Indeed, it's too easy for the US government to scapegoat Arabs and Muslims for the Judeofascist attack on 11 Sept 2001 --you've got barely 2.5 million Arab-Americans after all... and none of them --recent immigrants for the most part since Arabs emigrated to the US mainly after the 1950s-- are employed in sensitive sectors of the US economy nor do they occupy top/executive positions.
Now, imagine a parallel universe where 911 had occurred in France: two Airbus jetliners crashed in La Défense, on the Montparnasse tower... and thousands of French white-collars are killed. The French authorities start investigating and... guess what? The Prime Minister, together with the Président de la République solemnly claim that the terrorists who perpetrated the attack were Israeli and American fanatics who wanted to punish France for her pro-Palestinian policy!
Of course, I don't need to draw you a picture of the aftermath, do I? Ethnic profiling is enforced in airports all across Europe: Jewish or American or Israeli travellers get scrutinized... Religious persuasion becomes a key criterion to tag "potential terrorists" --American Evangelicals are rounded up and asked to leave the country.
Thereafter, French police investigators are sent off to the US to trace back the terrorists' network and FULL COOPERATION from US law enforcement agencies (FBI, CIA, DEA, local cops,...) is expected by the French in their hunting down of the Zionist terrorists. Of course, the French government will now and then reassure public opinion and claim that "no, this is not a war against Jews! No, this is not a war against America!" Prez Chirac will even go as far as saying that "Judaism is a peaceful religion!" and "The US is fully cooperating with French investigators in a common endeavour to fight Zionist terrorism..."
Got the picture?
Gus |
