You Could Hear A Pin Drop

When in England, at a fairly large conference, Condi Rice was asked by the
Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire
building by George Bush.
She 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 hear a pin drop.

There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were
taking part, including French and American. During the 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 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 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 hear a pin drop.

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals
from the US, 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 hear a pin drop.

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 their passports on arrival to
France!"
The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look then quietly
explained,"Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help
liberate this country, I couldn’t find a single Frenchman to show a passport to."
You could hear a pin drop.