Nice. Very nice. Western Europe and France & Germany in particular are like the ungrateful picked-on kids on the block who, after their Soviet bear of a bully has been emasculated for all intensive purposes, no longer needs protection. Free from needing our security umbrella, Chirac & Schroeder feel they can now wave their thumbs in our faces, taking an enormous risk in order to enhance their importance on the Continent. If another crisis like the former Yugoslavia erupts, or Paris or Berlin are attacked on the scale of 9/11, guess who they'll come running to to save their sorry butts once again? And we'll probably do what we've always done and spend enormous amounts of money, manpower, and materiel to bail them out. They're like a bunch of adolescents who never grow up, get into trouble from time to time, and then come crying to Uncle Sam for help. Like teenagers, their memories are very short. I sometimes wonder if our country's reservoir of patience is endless.