>>It's actually amazing how the French haven't reacted to a decade of ridicule after refusing to join the misbegotten adventure in Iraq.

You mean the retreat monkey/freedom fries stuff? IME most French people don't care what English-speaking oafs have to say. After all they've been tolerating Perfidious Albion for centuries and the Colonial upstarts are no worse. In the end the French know they're French and that's what matters. ;-)

People might reflect that no so long ago the French sank a Greenpeace ship in a NZ harbor (which could be considered an act of war) then used strong arm tactics to get their agents released. That was to an ally. I expect there will be a lot of unfortunate accidents and things mysteriously blowing up in the Middle East fairly soon.