After promising Israel and the United States that a French-led international force would help secure and patrol Lebanon’s southern border, France is offering only 200 combat engineers (in addition to the 200 French troops already serving as U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon). President Bush said in his news conference Monday that he hoped France would “put more troops in.”
It needs to. If not, the 15,000-member international force may not materialize. As a Wall Street Journal editorial Monday noted: “Given that the French contingent was supposed to be at the vanguard of this enhanced force, it’s unclear whether other nations will be willing to chip in with troops of their own.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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36 Comments
So other countries are dragging their feet now with their troops. This makes me wonder why the U.S. cannot drum up enough support from our allies anymore. Perhaps it is because George w. has ticked every body off by “staying the course” in Iraq.
Talk BIG.. and then get outa the way before you get beat up! France has mastered the art!
LOL! France!
That’s like asking Democrats to come up with a plan. It’s just isn’t going to happen.
Starting to sound like another ‘coalition of the willing’ with handfuls of troops from ‘all over the world’.
Where’s the vaunted Foreign Legion? Even France can’t make their mercenaries fight anymore.
If U.N. members aren’t willing to back up it’s resolutions with action, what good is it? I think we all know the answer.
The French cut back on personnel because they ran out of white flags!
I’m hoping the Italians will take the lead – a vacuum here would be a disaster. I think part of the problem is the ill-defined mandate – particularly since one of the hostile parties out-guns all of NATO combined.
“Are you going to lead the International Force?”"No, I thought you were!”"Me?, no, I thought you were! How many personnel are you sending?”"Me, none, I’m sending provisions”.”That’s what I am sending!!”.”Who’s in charge?”Whom , indeed!
Shep, Larry and Moe in action at the UN!
Somebody should clue Phillip in that it’s the Israelis who don’t want the French.
Making the French look cowardly is so 2000 and 3 . . .
Is there a good air base that can be used to headquarter an air contingent? That will be needed to have a credible force. So far the primary cease-fire violations have been in and from the air.
Italy’s comments on the cease-fire and who is the problem:
“ROME – Italy, which is expected to lead a U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, said on Tuesday it would contribute 2,000 to 3,000 troops provided Israel did not violate the U.N.-brokered cease-fire.
Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema, ahead of talks on Thursday with his Israeli counterpart, said Italy would be unable to send troops to Lebanon as long as Israel “keeps shooting.”
“From Israel, we expect a renewed effort, this time truly binding, to respect the cease-fire,” D’Alema told La Repubblica newspaper.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14461672/
That is why I think the force needs fighter jets and anti-aircraft.
The French have always been gutless.They even had rear-view mirrors in their tanks in WW2 so they could “watch” the war. Worthless and smelly people with no guts.
Ben,
Sorry that your proverbial wet dream of seeing fighter pilots shot down isn’t going to come true.
I know you only respect suicide bombers, because that is what real men do.
Good joke from the Joker Nathan.
Political Mom,
That’s a very commonly held view here in the US these days.
Where did you get that idea?
Do you have evidence or are you just repeating convential wisdom?
As usual, the world will sit around and denounce Israel and cry outrage at what was happening…demanding a ceasefire…and now they are not going to do anything to support.
If France can’t put out, then they need to shut their mouths when it comes to politics.
Hey CapnAmerica, you mean evidence like all the wars that the French won? Hmmmm….let me think…NONE!!! How many wars did the French cut-n-run? ALL OF THEM. Wait a minute. French cut-n-runners have a socialist society. And what do the Democrats in the U.S. have in common with the French? Socialistic and cut-n-run platforms. Yeah, baby. I’m in. I just love losing my REAL civil rights to the Islamic fascist. Women’s rights…out of here. Gay rights…Dead (and so are out-of-the-closet gays). Male dominated society…back in business with Islamic fascists. Kfg, you better start wearting your Burka. hehehe
The french gutless? Perhaps. Let’s look at that a little bit.Why did the French surrender in WWII? They had invested all of their resources in the Maginot Line, a line of trenches that based on knowledge from WWI they believed would protect them from Germany. They were utterly unprepared for the power of the German panzers, and were quickly overrun.
Look back to WWI and you will see a nation that fought a war on it’s own continent at the loss of many of it’s people, but never surrendered.
Look back a century or two, and you will see a nation that conquered the whole of europe under napolean, hardly cowards, I would think. Not only that, but they had the most powerful military in the world, that other commanders would base their tactics on for the next one hundred plus years.
Before that, try looking at the French revolution. Think heads rolling on the street.
I would agree that Franch currently makes some cowardly and dumb decisions, but if you are going to judge them as a people as cowardly based on historical precidence for their surrendering, look back a little farther than just the last war.
Am I reading this right? So far, France is the only country to offer? And you’re gritching about the number they’re sending, yet no one else has stepped up?
I don’t blame them.
JR,
Let’s not forget that without the help of Gen. LaFayette, the U.S. might not be.
Bash the French all you want. They have made the decision to choose what and when and how to get involved. If I were French, I’d spit in the face of the U.S.
Another hitch – they need ‘boots on the ground’ from countries other than Europe. Several have volunteered (Bangladesh, Malaysia) but Israel wants veto power over Lebanon peace-keepers.
The last time the French made a landing of any consequence was with Lafayette. And both his ship and contingent were bigger than the “landing” in Lebanon.
To funny, the French.
It’s easy for Americans to bash the french as wimps. Yeah, our soliders kicked butt in WWII, but we haven’t had to fight off an occupying force since the war of 1812.
The French fought hard, and lost.
Thanks for those factual remarks, JB.
As opposed to Win1, who brought nothing to the table.
I suspect that if Hitler had turned all his might against England after France, the results would have been pretty similar.
The only thing that saved them was the English channel and Hitler’s insane Operation Barbarossa into Russia.
We like to think that WE won WWII. Let’s not forget, folks. If anybody beat the Nazis, it was the Soviets. They took and gave the heaviest casualties.
Based on what I know, neither the US or the USSR could have won WWII on it’s own. It was the push to Berlin by both countries that gained ultimate victory, while leading to the conflict of the Cold War.
As for the talk above about France being a socialist nation, we have noone but ourselves to blame for that. When we were in western Europe in the aftermath of the war we helped rebuild those nations in the image of ourselves. Whether or not you agree with them, the United States used many principles of socialism as a means to bring us out of the depression. We exported those ideas- a sort of socialized democracy to France and the other western european nations. Just look at our 1930’s work programs, and the nationalization of so many of our industries.This isn’t to say that France’s near socialism is good or bad, I am personally not a fan of big government. It’s just to say that we are responsible for it.
You got it, JB. But, then again, your mental model is based on facts. Where Capn (what a hoot) America basis his/her life on one and only one agenda. Bush-bashing. The end justifies the means. Now that’s a winning strategy.
Lets face it, this is not about the history of the French.
This is about their lacking intestinal fortitude today.
Sure, 200 troops is a start, it is nice, but that leaves 14,800 more to go.
If the french are going to demand a cease fire and demand s stop to Israels actions then the French should be prepared to put their money where their mouth is in supporting it.
Like most everything the lefts beloved UN does, I am sure this will be a half hearted, unorganized, not very successful effort too.
We shall see.
I only addressed the history of france because that was the main thing being addressed. Everyone’s first reaction is to start in on the French white flag thing, so I felt inclined to do a little to refute that… You’re right, though that it hasn’t much to do with the subject of this post.
As far as this effort being “half hearted, unorganized, not very successful effort”, I agree. The UN has a noble idea behind it, but it seems based on what I have read that it has been bogged down in corruption.
The real problem is Iran. An ultimatum should be given to Iran as Harry Truman gave to Japan and if they do not stop the B.S. nuke all of their known nuclear development sites and military bases. If the United Nations had been around during WWII the Nazis and Japanese ideology would never have been defeated. If a tyrannical regime is able to infect the people under their control with a hateful ideology the only way to defeat them is to impose catastrophic consequences on the general population as well as the regime in power. We do not have the ability to fight a long and protracted war, our political system will not allow it. The only way to defeat this ideology is to crush the purveyors of this ideology quickly and convincingly. We do not have to lose a single soldier. When we try to fight this war house to house to try and save civillians al jazeera and the enemy can claim many small victories which bolsters their hateful ideology. We have to rain down such devastation on these countries that it is obvious to all even al jazeera and the like that their ideology has brought them complete devastation. Why do we not have Japanese suicide bombers today? It is because we brought a whole nation to their knees with complete and total military victory and in doing so destroyed the ideology that gave them strength. If we continue our current strategy we will still be fighting house to house battles 100 years from now. This is how it will end, the only question is will the United States or Israel lose one or more cities in a nuclear attack before we have the political will to destroy the enemies of democracy and freedom.
FOR SALE:French military rifle. Only dropped once.
Sorry…couldn’t help myself.
Here are some brave Frenchmen who fought well during WW2.
http://axis101.bizland.com/Charlemagne1.htm
V.L.R.B!!
Someone should tell Ian the Nazis lost. So much for the master race
Not only that dingus – they got beat by a bunch of “mongrels”! And in Warsaw, even though they massively outgunned the Jews, the Jewish resistence too a heavy toll on the Nazis! Fighter for fighter the Jews of Warsaw were braver and more committed than the Nazis ever were!
JB,It is true about the Maginot Line. The Germans simply flew over it.
jw
You’re nuts, Chernobyl is still radio active and will be for thousands of years.
Do you want the oil to glow in the dark?
And blind you at the same time?