You Could have A Pin Drop

> *When in England at a fairly large conference, General Colin Powell
> was
> asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq
> were just an
> example of empire building' by George Bush. He 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 have heard a pin drop*
>
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> --------------------------
> Then there was a conference in France where a number of
> international engineers were taking part, including French
> and American.
> During a 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 intended to do, bomb them?' A Boeing engineer stood
> up and replied
> quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board
> that can 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 a
> dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims a nd
> injured to and
> from their flight deck.. We have eleven such ships; how
> many does France
> have?'*
>
> *You could have heard a pin drop*
>
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> ------------------------------
> *A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that
> included Admirals from the U.S. , 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 have heard a pin drop.*
>
>
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> -------------------------------
> AND THE BEST FOR LAST ...*
>
>
> *A group of Americans, retired teachers, recently went to
> France
> on a tour. 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 your
> passports on arrival in France !' The American senior
> gave the
> Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained.
> 'Well, when I
> came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in '44 to help
> liberate this
> country, I couldn't find any damn Frenchmen to show it
> to.'
>
> You could have heard a pin drop.*