In the more open, enlightened part of the world known as Europe is furious at the barbaric United States of America. See, we here in the United States are trying to extradite aging director Roman Polanski for raping a child in 1977. He was arrested in Los Angeles and pled guilty to raping a 13-year-old girl. He was 44 years old at the time. After receiving a psychological evaluation, Polanski fled to France where he’s lived comfortably ever since, even receiving an Oscar for a film he made in 2002, The Pianist. Switzerland officials finally arrested the perv, and the United States has filed for extradition to force him to finally face justice for his actions.

And this is what has Europeans outraged.

From a Swiss jail, director Roman Polanski told his lawyer to fight any attempt to extradite him to California to face 31-year-old rape charges.

“He wants to struggle,” lawyer Herve Temime told ABC’s “Good Morning America” Monday.

“It could be possible for us to obtain his freedom.” Polanski, 76, who lives in France, was arrested Saturday night when he arrived in Switzerland to accept a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival.

California officials said they had plotted the arrest for a week, after learning he would attend the film festival.

France does not extradite its citizens, but Switzerland offered Polanski no protection from international warrants.

… Polanski, who directed the classic “Chinatown” and won an Oscar for 2002’s “The Pianist,” is a cultural icon in France and Poland, where there was widespread outrage about his arrest.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he asked Secretary of State Clinton to request bail for Polanski.

Frankly, it’s all a bit sinister,” he told French radio.

French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand told reporters, “In the same way that there is a generous America that we like, there is also a scary America that has just shown its face.”

Swiss authorities told The Associated Press that bail has not been ruled out on condition the director stays in Switzerland – an irony, given his 30 years on the lam.

Polanski has been a fugitive since 1978, when he fled sentencing for a 1977 sexual encounter with a 13-year-old Los Angeles girl whom he plied with champagne and Quaaludes.

At the time, the victim told a grand jury in graphic terms that he forced himself on her repeatedly despite her pleas to go home.

She said she was afraid to resist. In a deal with prosecutors, Polanski pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with a minor.

After giving her champagne and Quaaludes, he performed oral sex on her before moving on to sexual intercourse and finally sodomy. And French idiots think that this guy should remain free?

Polish idiots are also outraged. Apparently, he’s such an important artist that he should be forgiven this hideous crime:

The Polish Filmmakers Association called on Switzerland to immediately release Polanski and urged U.S. officials to review their indictment.

In a letter on their Web site, the Polish filmmakers noted Polanski’s “great contribution to the world of cinematography” and criticized his arrest as he arrived to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Zurich Film Festival as a “provocation.”

They said Polanski’s action decades ago deserves a “negative moral evaluation” but said he fled America fearing that he would not have a fair trial.

Many Poles agreed.

“I think that the arrest of Polanski is a scandal,” said Marek Kulas, 47, a real estate developer. “It has now been more than 30 years. He is an outstanding person who has functioned in the world without any further problems of that nature after that.”

Added student Urszula Kicman, 22: “I don’t support what he did but I don’t look at him as a private individual _ I look at him as an artist.”

In 2003, Polanski received an Academy Award for the “The Pianist” but could not travel to the U.S. to receive it and accepted it in absentia.

Polish Culture Minister Adam Zdrojewski expressed hope that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a former movie actor, could apply clemency.

He may be an “artist” who is beloved by Hollywood and European liberals. He may have escaped justice for over 30 years. He may be truly sorry. And the victim may have forgiven him. But that doesn’t matter — he raped a 13-year-old girl. I say send him to Louisiana and let him get tried there.

And sickeningly, these are French and Polish politicians defending him. Would they want their children around Roman Polanski? If it was their child who had been sodomized by a 44-year-old creep, then I’m pretty sure they’d be singing a different tune.