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Machete-waving mobs loot and attack French targets after Ivory Coast clashes
AP ^
| 11/7/4
| PARFAIT KOUASSI
Posted on 11/07/2004 8:53:38 AM PST by SmithL
BIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- Machete-waving mobs looted and burned in Ivory Coast's largest cities Sunday, laying siege to a French military base and searching house to house for French families after a day of sudden clashes between forces of France and its former colony.
France's military sent helicopters to pluck trapped expatriates from buildings as other helicopters and armored vehicles moved out to confront the mobs, lobbing volleys of tear gas and percussion grenades that sent rioters fleeing.
French gunships took up positions at bridges in skyscraper-lined Abidjan on Sunday, a day after seizing control of the country's two airports and flying in 600 reinforcements.
Faced with the confrontation with France, the Ivory Coast government reluctantly moved to call off its offensive against rebels who control the northern part of the country. The government broke a more than year-old cease-fire last week by launching airstrikes against the rebels.
The government said Sunday it was willing to cease fire and that it would pull back its troops. French retaliation on Saturday for a surprise bombing of French peacekeepers destroyed Ivory Coast's tiny air force and left its airports under French control.
The government took a defiant tone toward France. Ivory Coast will ask the U.N. Security Council for action against France, presidential spokesman Desire Tagro told The Associated Press.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: france; getshorty; ivorycoast; napalminthemorning; quagmire; religionofpeace; wot
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Uh-oh. Now the Kofi-klatch will become involved in this quagmire.
1
posted on
11/07/2004 8:53:39 AM PST
by
SmithL
To: SmithL
I think we should protest the French for committing war crimes on those innocent Ivory Coasters with their helicopter gunships and tanks.
2
posted on
11/07/2004 8:56:20 AM PST
by
boofus
To: SmithL
Has france surrendered yet?
3
posted on
11/07/2004 8:57:32 AM PST
by
Mr. Keys
To: SmithL
The French should ask themselves, "Pourquoi ils nous détestent?"
4
posted on
11/07/2004 8:57:42 AM PST
by
OhMike
(He which hath no stomach to this fight, let him depart...we would not die in that man's company.)
To: SmithL
hey, France...wanna buy some wood?
5
posted on
11/07/2004 8:58:33 AM PST
by
bitt
(John Kerry: Betraying America Since 1971.)
To: SmithL
Do we have troops there? Pull them out.
6
posted on
11/07/2004 8:58:33 AM PST
by
demsux
To: SmithL
Wrong War, Wrong Place, Wrong Time!!!
It's a friggin quagmire! French boys are coming home in flag draped coffins!!!!
7
posted on
11/07/2004 8:59:03 AM PST
by
VaBthang4
("He Who Watches Over Israel Will Neither Slumber Nor Sleep")
To: VaBthang4
How come France is not going in with a coalition? I thought they said you need permission from other countries like Russia and China and the UN?
To: SmithL
---The government took a defiant tone toward France. Ivory Coast will ask the U.N. Security Council for action against France, presidential spokesman Desire Tagro told The Associated Press.---
The French actions are not passing the global test!
9
posted on
11/07/2004 9:01:37 AM PST
by
claudiustg
(Go Sharon! Go Bush!)
To: SmithL
What comes around, goes around.
To: claudiustg
No sympathy here for the French....
To: SmithL
In Iraq, the US has built police forces and armed forces from the local population to replace the old, corrupt, pro-Saddam, pro-Sunni mobsters which used to constitute both. In the Ivory Coast, the French bombed the air force of the legitimate government.
Apropos of nothing... it's time to withdraw US troops from the former Yugoslavia and from Germany.
12
posted on
11/07/2004 9:02:33 AM PST
by
SunkenCiv
("All I have seen teaches me trust the Creator for all I have not seen." -- Emerson)
To: OhMike
13
posted on
11/07/2004 9:02:58 AM PST
by
SunkenCiv
("All I have seen teaches me trust the Creator for all I have not seen." -- Emerson)
To: SmithL
Don't get us involved. Iran says we can't afford it.
I wonder what kind of coalition France is going to get prior to invading.
14
posted on
11/07/2004 9:03:03 AM PST
by
chainsaw
(Congratulations President Bush. Congratulations Senator Thune,)
To: SmithL
ROFL
Chirac is just doing it for the oil. They should have waited for the UN sanctions to work. Violence never solved anything. It is Bush's fault. etc...
Anyone know the lyrics to Kumbaya??
To: OhMike
The French should ask themselves, "Pourquoi ils nous détestent?" Oh I don't know. Maybe it is because france is supporting the Muslim rebel trying to take over and put the Ivory Coast under Sharia Law?
But that is just a guess.
16
posted on
11/07/2004 9:05:01 AM PST
by
Harmless Teddy Bear
(Watch out! I have bunny slippers and I am not afraid to use them!)
To: Death and Taxes
Chirac is just doing it for the oil. No. For chocolate. Seriously.
17
posted on
11/07/2004 9:06:03 AM PST
by
Harmless Teddy Bear
(Watch out! I have bunny slippers and I am not afraid to use them!)
To: stopillegalimmigration
"It's better to burn them, like in Algeria. They burned the whites -- that's why they're respected," another said.
Foreigners cowered.
That's what happens when you allow victory to these animals. If you treat them well they take it as a sign of weakness.
To: SmithL
Contact Moveon.org here:
http://www.moveon.org/press/
19
posted on
11/07/2004 9:11:00 AM PST
by
Dallas59
("A weak peace is worse than war" - Tacitcus)
To: SmithL
Unmentioned is the fact that France is taking the side of the Muslim norther rebels against the non-Muslim government of the Ivory coast that the Muslims are trying to conquer
20
posted on
11/07/2004 9:13:40 AM PST
by
SauronOfMordor
(We are going to fight until hell freezes over and then we are going to fight on the ice)
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