You could have heard a pin drop

Received in an e-mail from a friend this evening:

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.
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Then 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 aircr aft 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.
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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.
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A group of Americans, retired teachers, recently went to France on a tour.
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
sarcasticall y. 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 any Frenchmen to show it to."

You could have heard a pin drop

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