Posted on 03/04/2006 7:11:46 AM PST by Flavius
PARIS (AFP) - A French special forces officer was killed in clashes with Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan, the defence ministry and the military said in a joint statement. ADVERTISEMENT click here
The statement gave no details of the death of the officer of a marine commando unit, the second French soldier to be killed in action in Afghanistan.
Some 200 French special forces troops under US command are fighting guerrillas of the former Taliban regime in southeast Afghanistan, the statement said.
Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie had sent her condolences to the family of the dead officer, who was not identified.
"Was he shot in the back while fleeing?
What are the French doing there? Are they doing some cover-up work for their government?"
i dislike the french as much as the next guy, but this guy was fighting on our side and died. Their government might suck, but your post is in incredibly bad taste and you need to post an apology.
"I still am curious as to why the French have sent military to Afghanistan."
because it is a NATO operation and a ton of NATO countries have troops there.
Will Chirac attend the funeral?
keep in mind that is pre-revolution france and they were just doing that to piss off the british. by that logic the british, or first enemies are not good friends. France really took a turn for the worse with the 3rd, 4th and 5th republics
Same reason every other country in Europe has troops there -- to defeat the Taliban and destroy the Bin Laden network.
The statement gave no details of the death of the officer of a marine commando unit, the second French soldier to be killed in action in Afghanistan.
Is it time now for ze French to declare Afghanistan to be "ze quagmire?" In fact, does the French language have a word for "quagmire?"
Ok, flame away.
Then I MISSED them. Good on the MSM and our freeper-posters.
It's always PART of the MSM agenda to put SOME stories front page, others 3rd page and other buried back in the obits. Also, how MUCH coverage, photos, background, etc., tells me how interested the news source really is in their coverage.
It's also part of life that some stories get buried naturally during bigger, more important events.
The MSM knows this and MIGHT put out those stories again, just so these stories get their due place in the sun, so to speak.
I think that it's EXTREMELY important for us, as a nation, to KNOW unequivocally who our allies are, that is, who the NATO nations--read that as European nations--are who are fighting and dying WITH our soldiers. They ought to be given due accolades for sending THEIR young soldiers to help. It would also be very good to know who the Asian countries might be as well.
It's ALWAYS and ALWAYS good to know who our allies are, even if the help is only in communtications or supplies, don't you agree? (Rhetorical)
Sorry, I's just so picky, picky, picky.
Thanks for the heads-up.
Mais oui, sans doute!
I found two words...and I have only a paperback dictionary. I took French in college, decades ago.
quagmire = la fondriere (reverse accent on the first e) and le marecage (accent on the first e)
"It's always PART of the MSM agenda"
It's always part of every news outlet agenda. They call them news editors. Until you take humans out of the process, it will be that way. I don't get the fixation on "the MSM." In fact, I don't know what "the MSM" is. I've asked others to define "the MSM" with examples and that's when it seems to get tough. I won't attempt to put you on the spot.
Merci!
Absolutely.
My ex brother-in-law was a French Naval Captain, and his brother is a fighter pilot (currently stationed as NATO liaison in Norfolk).
Don't confuse the French military officer class (and they are a class with a tradition much like the Southern military tradition in the US) with the slimy politicians and head-in-the-sand civilian ostriches of the rest of France.
Look, doofus, the French have had hundreds of special forces troops and others with us in Afghanistan for years now. French air force and navy have also helped us in and out of the region doing counterterror stuff.
Most of whom were not French. The bulk of the 'French' troops in Indochina were either colonial or German. The officers, such as those who thought up Dien Bien Phu were, of course, French.
France isn't a member of the NATO military alliance. (It does participate on the political side.)
You do realise that French forces have been operating in Afghanistan since 2001? French Air Force and Naval aircraft were pounding Taleban and Al Q forces back in 2001. Only last year French Air Force strike aircraft were bombing anti-Coaliton forces.
Horrendous tactics (trying to fight Blitzkreig the same way WW1 was fought), slow command and control and in general sloppy leadership unfamiliar with mechanized warfare were the leading reasons the French really sucked in WW2. Many many died valiantly because the French failed to slap that Austrian Corporal when he waltzed into the Sudetenland. France had a treaty with the Checkoslovakia that they should have honored.
Actually Colonel DeGaulle fought about as well as any French officer in WW2, as much as I dislike him as an anti-US ingrate. Had the French Army more officers like him, its doubtful that the blitzkrieg of France would have succeeded.
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