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France warns: Nukes in response to terror
Ynet ^

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 ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: france; frenchnukes; jihadineurope
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So...is he just whistling Dixie, or is he doing what the US and Israel should be doing?
1 posted on 01/19/2006 8:04:24 AM PST by Yaakov The Orator
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To: Yaakov The Orator

How do you say "idiot" in French?


2 posted on 01/19/2006 8:06:59 AM PST by Flifuss
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To: Yaakov The Orator

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..


3 posted on 01/19/2006 8:07:24 AM PST by mnehring (Perry 06- It's better than a hippie in a cowboy hat or a commie with blue hair.)
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To: Yaakov The Orator

That would be their only option. The US has the ability to conquer the offending country and free the captive people.


4 posted on 01/19/2006 8:07:31 AM PST by pissant
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To: Yaakov The Orator

And where does the Frog plan to drop his nukes? An empty tent or an aspirin factory??


5 posted on 01/19/2006 8:07:51 AM PST by frankjr
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To: Yaakov The Orator

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.


6 posted on 01/19/2006 8:08:07 AM PST by farlander
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To: Yaakov The Orator
We had a congressman (Tancredo?) say something like this, and the press is still knifing him.

It's the right answer.

Make Iran (especially) and others worry....really, really, worry.

7 posted on 01/19/2006 8:08:52 AM PST by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It!)
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To: Yaakov The Orator

The French posture does not pass the global test. Everyone knows France Germany and Belgium must agree before nuclear use.


8 posted on 01/19/2006 8:11:07 AM PST by omega4179 (minutemanproject)
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To: xzins

bttt


9 posted on 01/19/2006 8:11:36 AM PST by ConservativeMan55 (DON'T FIRE UNTIL YOU SEE THE WHITES OF THE CURTAINS THEY ARE WEARING ON THEIR HEADS !)
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To: Yaakov The Orator

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.


10 posted on 01/19/2006 8:11:36 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (G-d is not a Republican. But Satan is definitely a Democrat.)
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To: Yaakov The Orator
Any a ya' homos touch me, I'll kill ya'.

Any a ya' call me 'Francis', I'll kill ya'.

11 posted on 01/19/2006 8:11:59 AM PST by evets (God bless president Bush!)
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To: Yaakov The Orator
It'll be interesting to watch the MSM response to this. They'll probably say its a, "thoughtful and measured response to Iran's nuclear threat", but if Bush said those exact words, well, "irresponsible saber rattling" when a thoughtful and measured response is what's needed.
12 posted on 01/19/2006 8:13:30 AM PST by libertylover (Bush spied. Terrorists died.)
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To: Flifuss

You can use "idiot" in French. Another adequate word would be "crétin".


13 posted on 01/19/2006 8:13:49 AM PST by Atlantic Bridge (O tempora! O mores!)
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To: Yaakov The Orator

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.


14 posted on 01/19/2006 8:13:52 AM PST by dinasour (Pajamahadeen)
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To: Yaakov The Orator

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?


15 posted on 01/19/2006 8:14:57 AM PST by Parmenio
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To: 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."

How do the French define terrorist attack? A suicide bombing which kills 5 to 20 people? I doubt it. To them, that's just a nuisance. In order for them to grow the b@lls to respond in nuclear fashion, there would have to be thousands, if not tens of thousand, dead.
16 posted on 01/19/2006 8:15:09 AM PST by jdm (WWW-WEBMASTER (My grandfather swears it's his email address))
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To: evets

Pee Wee says: "Hello, Francis."


17 posted on 01/19/2006 8:15:19 AM PST by Big Guy and Rusty 99 (Liberals are the feces that is produced when shame eats too much stupidity!)
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To: Yaakov The Orator

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.


18 posted on 01/19/2006 8:15:57 AM PST by ican'tbelieveit
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To: Yaakov The Orator

Sure, they will take care of them just like they stopped all the kids from burning the cars a few months ago.


19 posted on 01/19/2006 8:16:20 AM PST by NorseWood
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To: dinasour
For all their huffing and puffing about moral superiority, the French can be brutal SOBs when they want to.


Yea, but they always use the Legionnaires for the dirty work.. They don't get their own hands dirty.
20 posted on 01/19/2006 8:16:34 AM PST by mnehring (Perry 06- It's better than a hippie in a cowboy hat or a commie with blue hair.)
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