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The United States were not the aggressors but the victims (putting it simplistically), much like Ukraine is. In the moment, Americans wanted allies to help them
by halfmatthalfcat 5y ago
The United States were not the aggressors but the victims (putting it simplistically), much like Ukraine is. In the moment, Americans wanted allies to help them hunt down terrorists who committed, supported and/or funded 9/11. France was not the most willing ally and thus Americans, for better or for worse, became somewhat anti-French. The "Freedom Fries" craze was in-name-only though; it's not like McDs or Burger King literally renamed or stopped serving fries.
> "In a 2005 opinion poll by Gallup, participants were asked if they felt the renaming of French fries and toast was "a silly idea or a sincere expression of patriotism;" 66% answered it was silly, 33% answered it was patriotic, and 1% had no opinion."
- sidibe 5y ago> Americans wanted allies to help them hunt down terrorists who committed, supported and/or funded 9/11. France was not the most willing ally France was fine with sending their troops to Afghanistan.
- johntdaly 5y agoFrance was ok with Afghanistan. The Freedom Fries indecent happened when Bush tried to get support for the invasion of Iraq. They (the French) thought it was a bad idea and there wasn’t enough evidence for Saddam having weapons of mass destruction. Or at least that is the way I remember it.
- nmridul 5y agoFrench opposition was related to invading Iraq and not Afghanistan. So US was not a victim there.
- mytailorisrich 5y agoFrance helped in Afghanistan after 9/11 and sent troops. "Freedom fries" were about France's refusal to support the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. The US were not a victim. Iraq had been weakened by the Gulf War and the sanctions it was under since and was only surviving. In 2003 the US were the aggressor, they simply decided to attack Iraq to take control of it. That's partly why they came up with this infamous WMDs story... They needed to find a pretext to invade.