Posted on 01/19/2006 8:04:22 AM PST by Yaakov The Orator
France said on Thursday it would be ready to launch a targeted nuclear strike against any state that carried out a terrorist attack on French soil.
In a speech defending France's costly nuclear deterrent and toughening policy against terrorism, President Jacques Chirac said Paris must be able to hit back hard at a hostile state's centers of power and its "capacity to act".
"The leaders of states who would use terrorist means against us, as well as those who would consider using in one way or another weapons of mass destruction, must understand that they would lay themselves open to a firm and adapted response on our part," Chirac said during a visit to northwestern France, where France's nuclear submarines are based.
"This response could be a conventional one. It could also be of a different kind."
Chirac said all of France's nuclear forces had been configured with this strategy in mind and the number of nuclear warheads on French nuclear submarines had been reduced to allow targeted strikes.
It was the first time he had so clearly linked the threat of a nuclear response to a terrorist attack, but he made no mention of any specific threat against France.
"Against a regional power, our choice would not be between inaction or annihilation," he said.
"The flexibility and reactivity of our strategic forces would enable us to exercise our response directly against its centers of power and its capacity to act."
(Excerpt) Read more at ynetnews.com ...
How do you say "idiot" in French?
So, should we get some black ops to set up Iran just to call France to show their cards? If they actually act, then game over for Iran.. If they don't act, then everyone will know they are just... well... French..
That would be their only option. The US has the ability to conquer the offending country and free the captive people.
And where does the Frog plan to drop his nukes? An empty tent or an aspirin factory??
Well. So in theory they'd nuke Iran if it was shown they supported terrorists who, say, destroyed Eifell tower ?
And they bitch at us for going in conventionally with surgical precision to protect our interests ?
Frogs never cease to amaze.
It's the right answer.
Make Iran (especially) and others worry....really, really, worry.
The French posture does not pass the global test. Everyone knows France Germany and Belgium must agree before nuclear use.
bttt
All bluster. The French haven't had the balls for a real fight in over 150 years. They won't even commit to a fight that they KNOW they can easily win, like the 'toon often did.
You can use "idiot" in French. Another adequate word would be "crétin".
For all their huffing and puffing about moral superiority, the French can be brutal SOBs when they want to.
The trick is getting them to want to.
When Chirac says this, I believe him. The French have never been reluctant to use their military forces when their interests are threatened. They have intervened countless times in Africa, and their secret service bombed that Green Peace boat that was trying to stop their nuclear tests in the south Pacific.
The problem here is that the likely perp - Iran - would not be open with its nuclear attack. They would do it anonymously -- so in that case how does a nation retaliate?
Pee Wee says: "Hello, Francis."
First, he will wait for a terrorist threat. Next, he didn't specify what the terrorist attack had to entail. Would he launch a nuclear strike for an attack similar to 9/11? And if he does wait until a nuclear attack, it may be too late.
Unfortunately, in the nuclear age, that is what we deal with. We can't wait until we are attacked to respond.
Sure, they will take care of them just like they stopped all the kids from burning the cars a few months ago.
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