January 7, 2003 8:45 a.m.

ou may have noticed that the French Army troops in the Ivory Coast were just attacked by local "rebels," with four Frenchmen wounded by shrapnel and the "rebels" suffering "heavy losses."

Why are the French troops there? Because, in the words of Colonel Baptiste, the official spokesman for the imperialist forces, France will not permit any harm to come to the thousands of French citizens living there.

So my question is: Why has the Security Council not denounced this blatant act of European imperialism?

Not that I have any problem with French troops defending French citizens; quite the contrary. But I do have this little problem with Jacques Chirac pretending to act on principle when he tries to prevent us from defending American lives by attacking the Middle Eastern terror masters, at the very moment he sends his armies into Africa. And I keep wondering where the saintly Nobel-winner Kofi Annan has been during all this: Got a frog in your throat Kofi?

-- Anonymous, January 07, 2003