Home > French Fries Protester - Walter Jones(R) NC - Regrets War Jibe

French Fries Protester - Walter Jones(R) NC - Regrets War Jibe

by Open-Publishing - Thursday 26 May 2005
42 comments

http://www.guardian.co.uk/internati...

French Fries Protester Regrets War Jibe
Jamie Wilson in Washington
May 24, 2005

It was a culinary rebuke that echoed around the world, heightening the sense of tension between Washington and Paris in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. But now the US politician who led the campaign to change the name of french fries to "freedom fries" has turned against the war.

Walter Jones, the Republican congressman for North Carolina who was also the brains behind french toast becoming freedom toast in Capitol Hill restaurants, told a local newspaper the US went to war "with no justification".

Mr Jones, who in March 2003 circulated a letter demanding that the three cafeterias in the House of Representatives’ office buildings ban the word french from menus, said it was meant as a "light-hearted gesture".

But the name change, still in force, made headlines around the world, both for what it said about US-French relations and its pettiness.

Now Mr Jones appears to agree. Asked by a reporter for the North Carolina News and Observer about the name-change campaign - an idea Mr Jones said at the time came to him by a combination of God’s hand and a constituent’s request - he replied: "I wish it had never happened."

Although he voted for the war, he has since become one of its most vociferous opponents on Capitol Hill, where the hallway outside his office is lined with photographs of the "faces of the fallen".

"If we were given misinformation intentionally by people in this administration, to commit the authority to send boys, and in some instances girls, to go into Iraq, that is wrong," he told the newspaper. "Congress must be told the truth."

Forum posts

  • FARKED Up

    • Downing Street Memo... Impeach Bush.

    • I couldn’t agree more with you on impeaching Bush.
      The sooner the better.

    • Photoshop this Freedom Fry

    • The irony that border bound americans never got is that French Fries aren’t even French! (They originated in Belgum). I suspect the French would rather not have that particular American food staple associated with their country in the first place

    • Finally politicians found out they can not fool people forever. Bush, Ch., Rams. Wolf. and Rice will finds out " War is not answer for freedom ". All the nations should work for their freedom and Army can not export freedom. Army will destroy and no construction expected from tanks and bullets.

    • Get rid of the caveman that rules the US and he essentially wants to get his hand into every event around the globe. He went to Iraq because daddy didn’t get the job done.

  • Restore Integrity to the White House! Impeach Shrub!

    The people deserve a more skilled liar!

    • Never really bothererd with that freedom/french fries pettiness.
      Not worth it, and I’m sure yanks aren’t too bothererd that Mc Donalds here are known as Filth burgers or Dirt burgers.

    • We yanks think the same of McDonalds, I have no clue how they stay in business when their food is so bad.

    • Not really. We call ’em the same thing you do. (I’m assuming that "filth" burger is a bowdlerized version of the name you actually use.)

  • "If" ?

  • I could never figure out what was funnier — that they actually changed the signs in the three cafeterias, or that everyone made such a big deal out of it. Leftists can be so pissy and whiny, especially European ones.

    And no, the "Downing Street Memo" proves nothing, though I fully encourage you to hold your breath until it does.

    • > Leftists can be so pissy and whiny, especially European ones.

      And right-wing Americans aren’t, right? That’s funny.

    • fuck off you neocon dickbite!!!

    • I could never be sure what was funnier, whining pissy republicans who changed ’french fries’ to ’freedom fries’ or whiny pissy republicans who then turned around and called anyone who thought it was pathetic ’whiny’ and ’pissy’. A classic Republican malaprop...do something stupid, then call anyone who disagrees ’stupid’. LOL

    • Take the Downing St . memo, go to the website of the Project for a New American Century ...click on iraq/middle east, click on 1997-2000 and near the bottom of the page look at the letter to President Clinton. The PNAC’ers tried to get Clinton to take out Saddam, and the signers of the letter are in bush’s administration. How much proof do Repugnicans need?

    • yeah - the downing street memo meant nothing. right. and depleted uranium doesn’t cause babies in Iraq to be born with their organs outside of their bodies. and global warming doesn’t exist. and al qaeda was in iraq, and 9/11 was caused by saddam.

      man, you are a fool. bush and blair are both lying war criminals, and should be imprisoned in the hague.

      the memo is definitive proof of what everyone already knew. these jerks wanted to go to war with saddam as soon as they came into power. everyone already knew they were lying out of their asses, this is just hard, physical proof that verifies it. just stick your fingers in your ears and keep saying it over and over again "bush is jesus! bush is infallible! I can’t admit bush did anything wrong, otherwise I will have to admit that he has done everything wrong!"

      geez.

    • Have you heard of Green Day’s album American Idiot? It’s your biography

    • The Downing Street memo "proves nothing?" Only if you consider cooking intelligence data to fit preconceived neoconservative fantasies, thus ensuring thousands of American deaths and tens of thousands of civilian deaths to be "nothing."

      Quit taking the media’s word for everything. . .the most influential opinions in the world are those of the American people; hence, we are the most heavily propogandized since the fall of the USSR.

    • That’s right the Downing Street Memo proves nothing!!!

    • I find it funny how people who approve of bush and the neo-cons always chuckle in response to any serious questioning. The have no real answers but denial, and then attempt to spin it that "lefties" are so funny when they are mad. All to avoid a serious look at something the rest of us (lefites, centrists, independents, etc, etc.) like to call REALITY.

    • International relations, especially with an ally, is more equivalent than a one night stand (i.e., shouldn’t be taken lightly). Another example of how the amBush administration & his party has mind-f’ed the American people. Funny - yes, I agree...in an unbelievable manner. You point out that it’s the "leftists" that are "so pissy and whiny"...you overlook that this was a Republican Congressman who put his time & effort (and consequently, our taxpayer money) to, in your words, be "so pissy and whiny" about it in the first place. It was no joke to him or the people who supported him - that’s the scary thing - it’s the "If you don’t agree with us, you are against us!" mentality.

      You say:
      "And no, the "Downing Street Memo" proves nothing, though I fully encourage you to hold your breath until it does."

      Wow, did you really pop your head out of your ass to say that? Since you get great comfort with it in there - you should stick it back. What would it take to confirm to you and others like you that amBush, Dumbsfiend & gang lied to you? Their "word"? The evidence is insurmountable - you just have to be able to read & listen.

    • I’ll I know is that that French Fries debate was petty and childish. How does that solve anything?
      Furthermore, it shows how far the Bush policy has fallen. Even its staunchest advocates are changing their tune.

      The Downing Street Memo proves everything, not nothing. If you cannot recognize that, then you are blind to reality.

      They went to war based on intelligence that was manipulated to prove their case.

      Don’t give me the argument that it was flawed intelligence. There were plenty of intelligence analysts out there who indicated that Iraq had no WMD. They chose not to listen to those sources.

      Look where we are now, and if you think we are safer now before the war, you are insane or just play misinformed, thanks again Fox News.

    • And the religious fanatic right can be so murderous and petty at the same time. And the Downing Street memo only proves what we all knew all along that the "intelligence" was cooked and designed around a war that was planned long ago by the neocons that the right so tightly embraces for all of its self serving greed and religious stupidity.

    • The Downing Street Memo is a copy of a meeting’s Minutes, which is an official record of what transpired, agreed upon by all parties. Check it out:

      http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/

    • You are just wrong on every point.I am sure you are a big supporter of the UN, right?
      Then why would that great club ( read County Club), have so many resolutions in the 1990’s.
      People on the left have a very selective memory as most of the John "fing" Kerry’s in the world also thought WMD did exist in Iraq. Check the speachs from the senate floor.

      As far as the French Fries go, F the French in fries and just say fries please and smile.

  • We still call them "Freedom ticklers" here in the states. Our President is a criminal, and a clown.

  • Also could be titled "Idiot wakes up"

  • So if the original suggestion was partly through the hand of God, is he now acting against God? Or did God change his mind too?

  • People are quick to forget that if it wasn’t for the so-called "wussy" french helping us out during the Revolution, there probably wouldn’t be a U.S.A right now...

    also...guess who gave us our beloved Statue of Liberty?...yup...the "wussy" french...

  • "Walter Jones, the Republican congressman for North Carolina who was also the brains behind french toast becoming freedom (...)"

    I don’t think that brains were involved...French Fries is short for frenched fried potatos and French Toast was named for its inventor, Joseph French. Walter has the use of the Library of Congress. He should use it.

  • You have to respect him that he at least admits that he was wrong.

  • Amerika - Home of Fast Food and "Instant" Political Reality - Just add blood and serve it up to the kiddies!

  • I must say, at least he has the testicular fortitude to admit that he was wrong—a trait absent all Republican members of Congress save 3.

  • The sad part is the continued destruction of our troops by death, injury, or mental anguish. Just to save face and feed corporate greed.
    What will happen when we actually need them?

  • I find it funny how people who approve of bush and the neo-cons always chuckle in response to any serious questioning. The have no real answers but denial, and then attempt to spin it that "lefties" are so funny when they are mad. All to avoid a serious look at something the rest of us (lefites, centrists, independents, etc, etc.) like to call REALITY.

  • Oh come on guys. He was tricked the same way just like you...

  • FARK the French! And FARK Walter Jones!

    Now, let’s go have some Belgian Fries.

  • I have some "conservative" (a misnomer if ever there was one) friends who are now saying "We didn’t go to war with Iraq because of WMDs, we went to get Saddam because he was in violation of the UN agreement!

    Wow. Is this the new conservative mantra—that we didn’t go to Iraq because of "thousands of tons of chemical and biological weapons" but because Saddam broke a UN rule?

    I usually ask the conservatives who assert that our purpose was only to
    dethrone Saddam this question: "So you’re saying that we committed massive military
    resources and spent over 150 billion dollars and killed tens of thousands of
    Iraqi civilians, and crippled many more, killed well over a thousand US
    soldiers and crippled many more, and bombed major portions of Iraq’s cities
    to the ground plunged Iraq into chaos, all while bin Laden was running
    around free, not because we thought Saddam posed a threat to us or our
    allies but because he broke a rule laid down by the UN? Is that what you’re
    telling me?"

    Haven’t gotten an answer yet.

    • These same "Terry Schaivo" brains then seem to not know that the U.N. has resolutions against our beloved Israel too and you never hear well lets go bomb the fuck out of them the bastards, that Sharon is a "terrorist" instead the taxpayers here are expected to give Israel 13billion dollars per year and let them run their spys all over the place here....John Bolton is being sent to the U.N. to control the U.N. for our Nazi government.....there goes that organization down the rat hole.

  • It’s really funny to read that from a french view...
    (yes I am a surrender monkey eating cheese)
    Any idea of the damadges of the racist and xenophob campaign launched by some of your politicians and a part of your people against French ?
    Where is America we loved ?

    For my part , I have a good idea where Jamie Walson can put his regrets...