An acquaintance of mine — French, currently resident in North Africa –
sent a long post about the French riots to an email group I belong to.
It is a fascinating post, but much too long to paste here. I did think,
though, that the following passage would interest NRO readers, so with
his permission, I pass it on.
It is from a passage headed: “Why an Intifada in France?” It is among a
long list of reasons given as answers to the question.
“The Iraq war: as I had noticed very strongly in Tunisia a little
more than 2 years ago, the opposition of France to intervention in
Iraq has been perceived as a sign of weakness, and French are since
considered as Dhimmis. The change of attitude from Arabs against
French has been dramatic: now I know problems of security in Tunisia,
and even in the French planes to go and come from there, and in Nice
(French Riviera) Airport! This opposition, probably motivated by the
money earned in Oil For Terror program and by threats from Saudi Arabia
and Iran, has marked the end of France as a Western country (whatever
one thinks about the Iraq war per se!).”