Wednesday, November 7, 2007


author
unknown

When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just another example of "empire building" by George Bush.

"Over the years," Powell answered, "the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return, is enough to bury those that did not come back."

It suddenly became very quiet in that room.

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Then there was a conference in France, where a number of international engineers were taking part, including American ones. During a break, one of the French engineers said, "Have you heard the latest dumb stunt perpetrated by Bush? 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 3 hospitals on board, that can treat several hundred people.......they're nuclear-powered, and can supply emergency electricity to shore facilities.......they have 3 cafeterias capable of providing 3,000 individuals with 3 meals per day.......they can purify several thousand gallons of seawater, each day.......and they can carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured persons to and from their flight deck.......we have 11 such ships: how many does France have?

Once again, dead silence.

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A United States Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S., British, Canadian, Australian, and French navies. At a cocktail reception, the US Admiral 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, when a French Admiral suddenly complained that "Whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English".......He then asked, "Why is it that we always have to speak English, during these conferences, rather than speaking French?"

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

You could have heard a pin drop!
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