Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

don't they have more important things to do?

Our war against the French continues…

The Washington Post reports that a number of U.S. congressmen are lobbying the Department of Defense to cancel its military food-service contacts with Sodexho Inc., the American subsidiary of the French-owned company Sodexho Alliance SA. (“House Members Target Sodexho for French Ties” - 03/29/03)

Inventing the term “freedom fries” may have failed to impress folks in Paris, so now several dozen members of Congress are proposing a more tangible means of conveying American anger toward France: cutting off U.S. military contracts with Sodexho Inc., a French-owned food service firm.

Fifty-nine House members signed a letter sent yesterday to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld urging the cancellation of Sodexho’s dealings with the Pentagon, which include an $881 million contract to feed U.S. Marines at 55 facilities, according to the letter’s author, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.). “My colleagues and I abhor the idea of continuing to pour American dollars into a French based firm,” the letter says.

The article goes on to say that the U.S. subsidiary of Sodexho Alliance employs about 110,000 people here. The Sodexho flack and others interviewed by WP for the story raise an important point: Why threaten U.S. jobs with this anti-French crusade?

I still appreciate the irony of the situation, though — Even though the French have so vociferously opposed U.S. military action in Iraq, a French-owned company is making money from U.S. military contracts.