Posted on 09/29/2005 5:57:00 AM PDT by SittinYonder
FRENCH commandos abseiled from circling helicopters to recapture a car ferry in the Mediterranean yesterday after it was hijacked by striking workers opposed to privatisation plans.
The dramatic operation, which was ordered by Dominique de Villepin, the French prime minister, came after some 50 masked strikers from the Union of Corsican Workers took control of the ferry Pascal Paoli in the port of Marseilles late on Tuesday and set sail for Corsica.
Five army helicopters began circling above the vessel shortly after dawn yesterday and had taken control of the ship within ten minutes, army sources said. There was no violence.
Some 30 sailors were handcuffed and forced to kneel on a lower deck during the voyage, according to reports which were later denied by Corsican officials, who said the striking sailors were sitting peacefully in the ship's lounge.
Shortly before the commando assault, union leader Alain Moscino told French radio: "We are not warriors, as we are only fathers of families and have lived until today in dignity. We will be arrested with dignity."
Although they were unarmed, the workers-turned-pirates could face up to 20 years in prison, as French law considers seizing a ferry to be similar to the hijacking of a plane.
The interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the defence minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, both hailed the army's "fast and efficient" operation.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.scotsman.com ...
The fact that they are not warriors, only fathers, and were unarmed might explain the swift French victory.
The fact that they were arrested by the French ruins any chance of being taken with dignity.
Very dramatic story from The Scotsman about a very anti-climactic French commando action.
"French Commando" I think I finally found a phrase to challenge "Government Efficiency" for the title of biggest oxymoron.
This from the country whose most elite fighting force is full of foreigners. The French Foreign Legion.
They seized an unarmed fairy hunh...oh uh Ferry.
Sorry!
Ignorant anti-French bollocks. Business as usual at FR!
OK
You must excuse UKman, he's British, living in Germany. So you can understand his reluctance to denigrate any EU country....Don't want to make the Wogs restless, and all that.
If you can't see the humor of cheese-eating surrender monkeys sending commandos to raid a boat full of unarmed men then you must be a Brit living in Germany.
Oh, sorry, you are.
"Don't want to make the Wogs restless, and all that."
Quite so old man.
Could've been worse. They could've used CS gas and then torched the place.
ukman -- "British, living in Germany"
----------------------------------------
A Brit living in
Germany, picking on us
for snarkig the French . . .
Like I said, the same old, same old at FR. The usual witless comments about surrendering. It gets so bloody boring...
That said, what's wrong with this? A bunch of strikers steals a ship and the French use the best means at hand to end the situation. What would your coppers do in a similar situation?
If those are the commandos, they can cuff me all they want! (Yummy)
Best means?! They could have
just sent in some wine and cheese,
and when the strikers
got low blood sugar
and had to take a nap from
the insulin spike,
the captain could have
just sailed the ship back to port.
Kitchen commandoes . . .
What would your coppers do in a similar situation?
The "coppers" would engage in a siege mentality and surround the target area with excessive amounts of armament and military weaponry. Then, they would use shoot-to-kill orders to annihilate the perps, innocents, and witnesses. After all is said and done, the target would be burned, and everything would be hushed up due to national security reasons (which are not given do to secrecy). If anyone survives, they will be tried, dipped in tar and feathers, and ostracized for the remainder of their life./sarc.......
>Best means?! They could have
just sent in some wine and cheese,
and when the strikers
got low blood sugar
and had to take a nap from
the insulin spike,
the captain could have
just sailed the ship back to port.
Kitchen commandoes . . .<
About what I expected. Yawn.
wait can you post one more reply with another slight variation of the "what I expected" line. And you complain about the originality of the FReepers. Hey kettle this is pot...your black.
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