Posted on 01/29/2013 5:24:39 AM PST by Lorianne
DIABALY, Mali (Reuters) - Residents of Diabaly feared for their lives when French air strikes pounded their small town in central Mali, shaking their homes and turning the pick-up trucks of Islamist fighters into burning, twisted metal.
Despite that, they are grateful to France.
Children in bare feet and tattered T-shirts now play among the trucks' charred wreckage -- a visible reminder that the town was the focus of the French-led war against al Qaeda-linked rebels bent on carving an Islamist state out of the Sahara.
"I've told the children not to play with the trucks but I can't stop them," said Adama Nantume, a retired farmer whose home was blackened by the laser-guided air strikes that landed meters from his door. "Everyone here is happy about what the French have done."
Diabaly, once a buzzing trading and agriculture hub, is now a forward headquarters for French troops piling into Mali since the Islamist rebels launched a dramatic offensive toward the capital in early-January.
French air strikes halted the Islamist advance and Paris has vowed to rid Mali's north of the militants for fear they will create a base for international attacks.
France says its military will leave once the Islamists are defeated and Mali is returned to stability, with the aid of an African force. But many Diabaly residents never want them to go.
"I hope that the French stay for eternity. If they leave, I will leave," said Alou Gindou, a 46-year-old driver. "If it were not for the French, we would not be sitting here today."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The French- Fighting Terrorism the way we used to before we got Obama.
freegards
LEX
Imagine. France defends the World’s freedom,
as Obama and Moslem/Communist Amerikkka
help, arm, and finance al Qaeda and drug cartels,
and support slavery and crucifixion worldwide.
The world, in peril, is now entirely upside down.
I don’t recall the US ever getting that kind of praise for any of our efforts in Iraq or Afghanistan.
“Never leave”, shell-shocked Mali residents tell France
WHAT A BUNCH OF IDIOTS!!! Don’t these people now know that they are occupied by a WHITE COLONIAL POWER? Their lives must now be PURE MISERY. So why are they saying this?
...probably because the Democrats haven’t riled them up yet to revolt against this ‘oppression’. And it makes me wonder whether colonialism was all that bad after all.
NO, No, no... Obama is leading from the rear.
He is disarming law abiding citizens here at home in order to stop, “man caused disasters, workplace violence and senseless acts” from right wing extremists. Way, way in the rear...but, leading don’t you know?
“You’d think we should be saying, ‘thank you’.”
American reporters aren't interested in that kind of story.
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