Tango Atlantico: Still in the hunt for UN legitimacy (honestly, why?), Bush is getting snubbed again by the French -- this time over the status of foreign troops.

"Although [the draft resolution] is a good basis for discussion, it needs further improvement to affirm and confirm the full sovereignty of the Iraqi government, particularly in the military domain," Mr Chirac said of the new draft.

Having spent the better part of his career kissing Saddam's ass, how much could Jacques Chirac truly care about the sovereignty of a free Iraq? Not much. Since France will never really bless our actions in the middle east, Chirac is at liberty to ask for something totally unreasonable: that we relinquish military control right away, at the most dangerous time, and despite the fact that the new government of Iraq is asking for less than Chirac. (Note, too, that getting UN peacekeepers out of the Balkans has proceeded on a similarly rapid pace, and that things continue to go just swimmingly for the French effort in Cote d'Ivoire.)

To top it off, given that Kerry's Iraq strategy rests on "getting the world [read: France] involved," I think we can be pretty certain he would capitulate to Chirac.

More: Denis Boyles is well worth reading on the subject of Europe and the D-Day anniversary. I wouldn't be surprised if the frogs soon ask us, s'ils vous plait, not to show up at their doorstep on that day in June anymore.