French Feel Obligation To Louisiana

I read a news article in which it was reported that France feels a special obligation to be charitable to survivors of Hurricane Katrina. The reason for this is the historical connection between Louisiana and New Orleans, on one hand, and France, on the other.

The French were described as a great "ally" of the United States. Perhaps they were and technically are. But to some of us who remember France's behavior during the advent of the Iraq war, that description rings a bit hollow.

There is a new book on our relationship with France entitled, Our Oldest Enemy. In it is presumably described the statecraft that has positioned France as an interloper between Great Britain and the United States, and as a clever opponent of Anglo-Saxon power.

Let's not forget that it was the French who decided to situate New Orleans where it sits -- in a great soupbowl, subject to the whims of fate.