Posted on 11/09/2004 5:47:21 AM PST by OESY
...Simmering tensions broke into the open Saturday when nine French peacekeeping soldiers were killed in an Ivorian government air raid. The French were enforcing a nearly two-year-old ceasefire between northern Muslim rebels and the Christian-dominated government in Abidjan, on the southern coast.
President Laurent Gbagbo's spokesman called the bombing a "mistake," but it looked, and worked, like a tailor-made provocation. Paris had no choice but to retaliate so it attacked and destroyed the state's tiny air force. French troops "occupied," if we may use that word, the two biggest airports. As if on cue, Mr. Gbagbo's lieutenants incited anti-French sentiment to bring violent mobs into the streets. French schools and businesses were looted. Hundreds are dead. "Everybody get your Frenchman" was a popular chant.
...The French acted unilaterally at first, without a U.N. green light.... France could reasonably say that the intervention saved lives....
In short, it's a mess -- or as French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier likes to say of Iraq, "a fiasco." The French at least now have a U.N. force of 6,220 on board. Paris this week called for an arms embargo and other sanctions against the Ivorian government.
This is all a notable contrast to the French position on Iraq. Only last week, President Jacques Chirac snubbed Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, at the European Union summit.
In the Ivory Coast, though, France has no trouble asserting what it deems to be its unilateral interests, and Mr. Chirac didn't ask the U.N. Security Council for permission to take the airports this weekend. He more or less asserts that he is seeking to do the right thing, namely rebuild a stable and peaceful country. The U.S. is firmly backing France in the Ivory Coast. Too bad France doesn't return the favor.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
No blood for chocolate!
Can we just 'back them' and NOT be nice about it?
Mercy bow-cups, Mon-sewers Froggies.
NO MORE FRENCH OCCUPATION!
France must withdraw now!!
Why are the French "helping" the rebels? Haven't they learned?
In two years, the French have yet to have a plan to win the peace....
Was there a U.N. resolution that permitted France to do this?
I find this objectionable. The US has no national interests in backing the French when they make war against a smaller country.
France did everything in the Ivory Coast that they said America should not be doing in Iraq. They acted unilaterally, and without the UN's approval. So why is our State Dept. holding France's hand?
The State Dept. may find it tactful, but this would be a perfect opportunity to come down hard on the French as hypocrits.
Why? We should pullout, and make a big scene in doing so.
Proof positive that we don't want French troops anywhere near Iraq. The French gov't can think its way out of a wet paper bag, much less figure what to do in the rough & tumble world of machete wielding "insurgents".
Messy. Let's all shed alligator tears for the Frogs.
NO BLOOD FOR SWISS MISS!!!!!!!
Something rarely heard during these recent debates here and looking all too familiar. France is responsible for the US getting into Vietnam! Their arrogance and blundering stupidity led eventually to US "advisors" coming to their aid. Then once our feet are firmly planted France quietly pulls out.
What was the Security Council's opinion?
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