You could have heard a pin drop

[Hairy78]

When in England , at a fairly 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.'

You could have heard a pin drop.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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?'

You could have heard a pin drop.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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 it's
because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you
wouldn't have to speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris
by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his
passport in his carry on.
'You have been to France before, monsieur?' the customs officer
asked sarcastically.
Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.
Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.'
The American said, ''The last time I was here, I didn't have to
show it.
'Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival
in France !'
The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he
quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day
in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single
Frenchmen to show a passport to.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

[Mitch]

FYI :

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/p/ ... mpires.htm

Many times the quotes and such received by chain email have been modified, and in some cases, made up. Check 'em with Google ;-)

First, Powell's statement was not made in England. It was during a presentation to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland during January, 2003.

Second, the questioner was not the current Archbishop of Canterbury, but the former Archbishop, George Carey.

Third, Carey was not asking about "empire building." He asked Powell whether the U.S. was relying too much on "hard power" such as military action as opposed to "soft power" such as appealing to the common values of the major religions and building trust based on those values.

Powell responded by affirming the "soft power" of values but that it was the "hard power" of the military that, for example, helped free Europe and so the "soft power" of peace and reconstruction could take place.

Powell then said, "We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years and we?ve done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in, and otherwise we have returned home to seek our own, you know, to seek our own lives in peace, to live our own lives in peace. But there comes a time when soft power or talking with evil will not work where, unfortunately, hard power is the only thing that works."

[Hairy78]

Damn dude, wasn't looking for facts, just thought it sounded good. I lifted them off of Arfcom.

[Mitch]

Actually the Powell story was true for the most part - just a few details were wrong.

I looked like an ass once when I posted something like that to my soapbox newsgroup. I look up every quote I see nowadays just to make sure.

[Hairy78]

Well, now you look like a hallway monitor ass. ASS!

[Mitch]

Yea, well, I'm tired of the Internet being a sea of information - all knee deep. I'm doing my part to clean it up!

You misinformation machine, you.

[Hairy78]

Well, you are still an ass.

[Gary Stevens]

Mitch the snitch. Actually I sort of like the made up versions, as they are more entertaining:D

[Hairy78]

Thanks Gary, you sir are not an ass like Mitch

[Mitch]

You bunch of wankers.