You could have heard a pin drop
You don't say?
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 intend 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 '44 to help
liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to
show a passport to.'
You could have heard a pin drop.
