Posted on 11/06/2004 6:29:58 PM PST by conservativecorner
The French are always happy to explain how things should be done, and they never lack for criticism of our progress in Iraq. I think it is worth noting, therefore, that the French are having problems of their own in Ivory Coast:
France has ordered more troops to Ivory Coast to protect French citizens after nine French soldiers and a U.S. aid worker were killed in a government bombing raid and Ivory Coast troops fired on French forces. French President Jacques Chirac ordered the Ivory Coast planes involved in the Saturday airstrike destroyed and a defense source said French forces would also destroy five Ivorian military helicopters, leaving the country with only one helicopter.
Mobs of machete-wielding pro-government supporters rampaged through Abidjan, furious at the French destruction of the planes. Plumes of smoke rose from the plush Cocody suburb.
The French embassy said a French school in Cocody had been set ablaze, four French policemen were evacuated from a building by helicopter before it too was burned down and that there was a loud explosion near the embassy.
The escalating tension between the East African country and its former colonial ruler followed three days of a government air offensive to retake the rebel-held north of the country.
In the photo below, a French school burns after being looted by rioters.

Oh my God! It's a QUAGMIRE!!!
/sarcasm off
Here is Chirac's chance to become a pole to ballance the Americans!!!
(end sarcasm)
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