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Has she lost her
freaking mind? Did she forget to put her brain back into the top of her
cranium when she took it out last night? What a sick, perverted political
ghoul. She wants to exhume 56,000 bodies from France and another 13,000
from Belgium to teach them a lesson for not supporting the Bush killing
machine. Have Bush and his administration forgot that the
cemetary in which the dead are buried in France and Belgium was given
to the US by them. What does she plan to do with the remains?
Reanimate them to recite the Pledge of Allegiance 24/7.
Article published
Mar 13, 2003
A Slap at France, Brown-Waite's Bill Would Bring the Boys Home By Cory Reiss Ledger Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- America's relationship with France is about to hit a new low. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, is writing legislation that would encourage the exhumation and return of American war dead buried in France and Belgium. She expects to introduce the legislation today out of frustration with those countries' opposition to a war in Iraq. "Many people visit the graves of their parents and grandparents who served in World War I and World War II and are buried in France and Belgium," said Brown-Waite, whose district includes a portion of Polk County north of Interstate 4 between State Road 33 on the east and the Hillsborough County line on the west. "The question becomes, `Should we continue to support their eco-nomy when the French government has turned their back on us?' " Many Americans are boycotting French wine and cheese for the same reason. A House Republican leader Tuesday banned the word "French" from the chamber's cafeteria menus, turning french fries and French toast into freedom fries and freedom toast. The culinary censorship has earned laughs from talk-show audiences, but the mothers of several soldiers killed in combat groaned at the idea that people might dig up soldiers after so long because of this feud. "After all these years -- to me, when a person is buried, it's sacred ground," said Dorothy Oxendine, president of American Gold Star Mothers, whose members have lost children in combat. Oxendine's son was killed in Vietnam in 1968. Brown-Waite's bill would require the Department of Defense to exhume and return the bodies on request by a qualified family member. The soldiers could be buried at a national cemetery or, if the family wishes, turned over for private burial. Ken Graham, 65, sparked the legislation two weeks ago when he approached Brown-Waite at a rally in Florida and told her he wanted to bring his father home. Melborn Graham was killed fighting in France in 1944 and buried in Alsace-Lorraine. Graham, who was 7 when the telegram announcing his father's death arrived at their home in Enterprise, Ala., has never been to the cemetery. He said he has always thought it was wrong that Americans were left overseas instead of brought home. Over the years, he said, French policy has caused his frustration to mount, boiling over with France's position on Iraq. He said anti-Americanism has made France an unfit place for American soldiers who fought there. "I'm really upset," said Graham, who lives in Hernando County. "It's just not true that they're buried in an honorable place over there." More than 56,000 Americans are buried in France and more than 13,000 in Belgium from both world wars. A frequent complaint about the French position on Iraq is that the traditional ally has forgotten that America lost so many lives fighting for France. Brown-Waite said she didn't know if many people would ask for the exhumations if her bill were to pass. "But I do believe we should give them the opportunity. . . . It'll send a loud and clear message." A spokeswoman for the French embassy said repatriation of American soldiers would take this dispute to a far different level than renaming french fries on Capitol Hill. "The french fries, it's a joke," said Agnes von der Muhll, the embassy spokeswoman. "If the other thing would happen, it would be very, very sad. We didn't forget. We will never forget what contribution America made to our peace and security." Asked whether she is angry with France, Brown-Waite said, "I am certainly not going out and buying any French designer clothes, I'll tell you that right now, nor drinking French wine." Frank Fogner, a Vietnam veteran from Little River, S.C., was patrolling the halls of Congress on Wednesday to observe budget hearings. He said the United States should cut or reduce financial assistance to any country that opposes the war and denounced France in particular. Asked whether American soldiers should be exhumed over this, he shifted his weight uncomfortably. "There is such a thing as too extreme," he said. It's not clear if the government would relocate bodies if asked without the legislation. Messages left with the American Battle Monuments Commission, which is in charge of overseas cemeteries, were not returned. The American Legion, which supports the Bush administration's position on Iraq, wouldn't give an opinion about the bill. A spokesman would only say: "This is a legislative byproduct of French and Belgian recalcitrance." Ms. Jean Isachenko, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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