FRANCE: Morris on food

From Catalonia, Hank Levin writes: "I was in Paris about two weeks ago. I just wanted to add that Paris is "well" with good food and wine, even though there are still deep concerns about the intrusion of the English language and the dangers that the U.S. poses to the world. I am now in Catalunya at our home here. Catalan pride rages strong with fewer signs of Espanol than the past. I have been struck by the number of persons here who have read a best-selling book by a journalist with a picture of Atta and Bush on the cover and the assertion that Bush and Bin Laden planned the September 11 World Trade Center disasters together. Apparently the argument is that from the time the CIA supported Bin Laden in Afghanistan, the U.S. has had a close relation with him and that Bush used him to establish hegemony over not only the parts of the Arab World that Bin Laden hates, but also over Europe, etc... I did not purchase the book because I find even its cover is disgusting. But, more shocking are the numbers of references to the book as providing the "evidence" for this conspiracy. I have told colleagues who ask what we think of the theory and evidence that they have a much higher regard for journalists as purveyors of evidence and truth than we do". RH: It looks as though French anti-Americanism is poisoning the European continent.

Ronald Hilton - 7/10/03