Wednesday, February 19, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Everything French Fried

Protesters express anger at nation's stand against Bush policies

Tony Sager on Tuesday morning sets a bottle of French wine next to other items in the path of a 14-ton armored fighting vehicle that crushed them minutes later. The stunt was a demonstration against French policy regarding Iraq. Photo by Christine H. Wetzel. Gabriel Sager, 18 months old, looks up as his father, Tony Sager, clutches a bottle of French wine at the demonstration. Photo by Christine H. Wetzel.

If it was French, it was doomed.

Tiny tubs of French yogurt, a loaf of French bread and bottles of French wine, water and vodka were all smashed by a 14-ton tank-like vehicle Tuesday morning in a Sahara Avenue parking lot as spectators cheered.

Also among the crumpled casualties were photographs of French President Jacques Chirac, photocopies of the French flag and even a travel guide to Paris.

"You can't feel much inside that thing, but that felt great," Las Vegan Bill Stojack said immediately after razing bottles of Grey Goose vodka and Perrier water with his 1972 Alvis Saladan, an armored fighting vehicle outfitted with a 76mm cannon and two machine guns.

So why the destruction of all things francais?

To "Flip off the French" for their failure to adequately support disarmament of Iraq, said officials with the radio station that organized the stunt.

"This is not a pro-war rally. Just anti-French," said Gavin Spittle, program director for KXNT AM 840, whose talk show hosts Alan Stock and Heidi Harris broadcast their show live from the 8:30 a.m. demonstration.

Such spectacles have sprung up across the United States in the last few days over French opposition to U.S. policy on Iraq.

In Reno last week, restaurateurs poured out expensive bottles of French champagne in the street at a similar protest.

It remains unclear whether Tuesday's stunt, which drew about a dozen people, is part of a rising tide of anti-French sentiment in Southern Nevada.

If it is, it doesn't appear to be affecting business.

"We haven't seen any backlash," said Michael Coldwell, a spokesman for the French-themed Paris Las Vegas hotel-casino on the Strip. "Our occupancy rate was 100 percent all weekend, and restaurant and gaming areas were busy. I think the public is insightful enough to know Paris Las Vegas is a tribute to the City of Lights and does not represent the political ideology of the French people."

The French native who operates Andre's French Restaurant, one of Las Vegas' most popular and well-reviewed gourmet eateries for 23 years, said business is booming.

"Those people should get a job," chef and restaurateur Andre Rochat said of those who attended the demonstration. "It doesn't make sense. Who are you going to hurt if you protest French products and French food? Not the French government, but the guy in a factory making those products or the guy working to run a restaurant."

Asked for his thoughts on the U.S.-French policy divergence, Rochat said he sides with the position of his native country and would only support military action against Iraq if Saddam Hussein launched an attack against another country. Rochat believes Bush administration hawks have other motives in banging the war drum.

"The reason behind the thing is not Saddam Hussein. It's about oil," Rochat said. "I think everybody in their right mind knows very well that it's just a political game. If you look at history, war is always the solution to economic problems."

Some critics at the rally said they believe France's opposition to an invasion of Iraq is part of a desperate struggle to maintain influence in global affairs. Others said France's lack of support for the United States' position represented disloyalty.

"We've bailed them out time after time, but the only time I remember them being there for us was the American Revolution," said Tony Sager, 38, a shoe salesman who brought a bottle of French wine and his 18-month-old son to the protest.

Experts on U.S.-French relations say the negative feelings are reciprocal.

Gregory Brown, who teaches modern French history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, studied in France and frequently speaks to friends in that country.

He said President Bush is viewed by the French as a cowboy who wants to go it alone in the world.

"He's widely perceived as a guy who doesn't play well with others, a guy who doesn't like and doesn't care for the rest of the world," said Brown who spoke about the recent U.S.-France dustup with European friends over the weekend.

Brown says the French believe the Bush administration has encouraged anti-French rhetoric, and he concurs.

"You get angry when you disagree with people, but it has usually been the role of our elected leaders to tone down that sentiment and encourage more reflection," the professor said. "The goal now seems to be to inflate that sentiment."

Although universities often are the setting for protests against foreign policy, UNLV students have not taken up the cause for either side.

"My students really aren't talking about it," said UNLV associate professor Margaret Harp, who teaches French language courses. "On their first day of class, I always ask them about American sentiment about France and whether they agree with it. Their impressions are usually good, but I always hear a lot of jokes about the French."

Stock and Harris, the talk show hosts, also ran through a lengthy list of all the military conflicts the French have lost over the past 2,000 years.

"No wonder they're against war," Stock said on the air.

Review-Journal writer Adrienne Packer contributed to this report.