I just got this via email, so I'm not sure how accurate the stories really are, but I thought they were worth sharing.
>> When in England at a large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the
>> Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of
>> empire building' by George Bush.
>>
>> He answered by saying, "Over the years, 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 return."
>> It became very quiet in the room.
>> **************
>>
>> 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 intended
>> 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 U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included
>> Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies.
>> 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 that, '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 its because the
>> Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have
>> to speak German'
>> You could have heard a pin drop!