More Black Count idiocy - NPR Style

From the Tom Reiss  interview:

"And in 1798, Napoleon leads what they call the Expedition to Egypt, which is the French invasion of the Egypt. And he confronted Napoleon and said, essentially, I think this is an unjust and ill-considered, crazy venture. We're losing thousands of men to disease and what are we trying to do? Bring an empire to the Middle East? that's not why I joined the Revolution. I joined the Revolution to bring liberty, equality and fraternity to people."

The problem of course it that (i) there's no evidence Dumas said this before they left France, (ii) once in Egypt it was a little too late for 2nd thoughts, (iii) French Revolutionary armies were always losing men through disease, (iv) there's no evidence Dumas joined the Revolution to bring  "liberty, equality and fraternity" to people, and (v) the point of the Egyptian Campaign was to injure the British,  it would capture Malta, establish a French colony in Egypt, enhance France's trade in the Eastern Mediterranean,  and provide a base for striking at Indian. And of course, for the Directorate, to get Napoleon out of France.