WASHINGTON ? Long Island Congressman Peter King weighed in on the touchy international standoff over Iraq on Tuesday, calling France "a second-rate country" that should be left out of any future defense coalitions.
King, a Republican on the House International Relations Committee, accused France of using its influence in the United Nations Security Council and NATO to hobble international cooperation aimed at disarming Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.
"We may have to restructure the alliance, form a new alliance which the French will not be a part of," said King. "We cannot allow a second-rate country to have a veto power or obstructionist power over American foreign policy."
The congressman argued that France also delayed successful military intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.
"France is posturing itself as a moral guardian, when they would have lost World War I, and they set a world record in World War II for the quickest surrender by a world power."
King said he has had "all these French people calling me up and attacking me" since making similar comments in a BBC radio interview late Monday night, in which he said the French could go to Iraq "to instruct the Iraqis in how to surrender."
King said he is not worried about offending French sensibilities because "they are yesterday's people."
The congressman's family is so upset about France's Iraq position that his wife and daughter recently canceled a planned vacation to Paris, King said.
A spokeswoman at the French embassy in Washington did not immediately return a call for comment.
______________________________
Gets my vote.
King, a Republican on the House International Relations Committee, accused France of using its influence in the United Nations Security Council and NATO to hobble international cooperation aimed at disarming Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.
"We may have to restructure the alliance, form a new alliance which the French will not be a part of," said King. "We cannot allow a second-rate country to have a veto power or obstructionist power over American foreign policy."
The congressman argued that France also delayed successful military intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.
"France is posturing itself as a moral guardian, when they would have lost World War I, and they set a world record in World War II for the quickest surrender by a world power."
King said he has had "all these French people calling me up and attacking me" since making similar comments in a BBC radio interview late Monday night, in which he said the French could go to Iraq "to instruct the Iraqis in how to surrender."
King said he is not worried about offending French sensibilities because "they are yesterday's people."
The congressman's family is so upset about France's Iraq position that his wife and daughter recently canceled a planned vacation to Paris, King said.
A spokeswoman at the French embassy in Washington did not immediately return a call for comment.
______________________________
Gets my vote.