They were right about Iraq and America’s rush to war. And they may be right about Dominique Strauss-Kahn and America’s rush to judgment.

In both cases, French credibility was undermined, so we resisted seeing things from their point of view.

France tried to block W.’s spun-up attack on Iraq, but we knew that the French government had a history of making special oil deals with Saddam Hussein, and of favoring expediency over principle.

France refused to believe that DSK could force himself on a Sofitel maid, but we knew that French society had a history of shielding powerful and talented men accused of scandalous behavior with young women.