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France sends elite troops to help free yacht hostages
Associated Press ^ | April 7, 2008

Posted on 04/07/2008 1:14:19 PM PDT by kingattax

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1 posted on 04/07/2008 1:14:19 PM PDT by kingattax
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To: kingattax

Typical French, won’t go to Iraq but will go and (attempt) to rescue a yacht.


2 posted on 04/07/2008 1:16:53 PM PDT by ladtx ( "Never miss a good chance to shut up." - - Will Rogers)
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To: kingattax

what exactly are “elite” French Troops anyway?


3 posted on 04/07/2008 1:17:41 PM PDT by crghill (Postmillenial, theonomic, presuppositional, covenantal Calvinist! Let reconstruction begin!)
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To: crghill
what exactly are “elite” French Troops anyway?

French Foreign Legion, of course!!

4 posted on 04/07/2008 1:19:16 PM PDT by Mr. Quarterpanel (I am not an actor, but I play one on TV)
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To: crghill

They do have a few. Not all of them are surrender monkeys.


5 posted on 04/07/2008 1:19:32 PM PDT by CholeraJoe ("Gonna make those posts that offend the senses, gonna pop my Geritol from a Pez dispenser.")
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To: crghill

We call them the Boy Scouts!


6 posted on 04/07/2008 1:20:06 PM PDT by gc4nra ( this tag line protected by Kimber and the First Amendment (I voted for McClintock))
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To: crghill
what exactly are “elite” French Troops anyway?

.."don't you try to be funny with me, monsieur"

7 posted on 04/07/2008 1:22:28 PM PDT by kingattax (99 % of liberals give the rest a bad name)
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To: crghill
what exactly are “elite” French Troops anyway?

The GIGN. You're welcome to piss them off if you'd like, but I wouldn't rec it. They're some of the most experienced, best trained anti-terrorist special forces in the world.

8 posted on 04/07/2008 1:24:11 PM PDT by Alter Kaker (Gravitation is a theory, not a fact. It should be approached with an open mind...)
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To: kingattax

minor nitpick, the GIGN are police, not military.


9 posted on 04/07/2008 1:24:47 PM PDT by balch3
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To: ladtx
Typical French, won’t go to Iraq but will go and (attempt) to rescue a yacht.

They didn't go to Iraq, but they have gone to Afghanistan. In fact, they just dramatically increased their deployment to Afghanistan.

10 posted on 04/07/2008 1:25:44 PM PDT by Alter Kaker (Gravitation is a theory, not a fact. It should be approached with an open mind...)
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To: kingattax

Elite French troops were headed to East Africa to bolster efforts to free captives of a yacht held by pirates off Somalia.

Currently marching backwards they are expected to arrive in an undetermined time frame.


11 posted on 04/07/2008 1:25:57 PM PDT by cquiggy
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To: kingattax
From Wikipedia:

The National Gendarmes Intervention Group, commonly abbreviated GIGN (French: Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale), is the French Gendarmerie's elite counter-terrorism and hostage rescue unit. It is composed of 120 men, including 11 officers.

Its missions include the arrest of gunmen, in particular those taking hostages, counter-terrorism, including airplane hijacking, or prevention of mutiny in prisons.

wikipedia.org/wiki/GIGN

12 posted on 04/07/2008 1:28:10 PM PDT by Pilsner
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To: crghill
wheels up at 0500

mimes
13 posted on 04/07/2008 1:32:52 PM PDT by Squidpup ("Fight the Good Fight")
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To: kingattax

Telling your enemies that you are sending troops is a mistake.


14 posted on 04/07/2008 1:34:52 PM PDT by lormand (What is the difference between a Reagan Democrat and a McCain Democrat?)
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To: cquiggy
Currently marching backwards they are expected to arrive in an undetermined time frame.

That's nice. I take it you're rooting against America's French allies and are instead rooting for the Islamist terrorists. FYI, the GIGN have been responsible for innumerable successful anti-terrorist operations.

In 1994, for instance, they successfully stormed a hijacked Air France flight after determining that terrorists on board intended to fly the plane into the Eiffel Tower. They liberated the passengers and killed every terrorist on board, without a single collateral death. There is no better trained or more experienced hostage rescue unit in the world.

15 posted on 04/07/2008 1:36:00 PM PDT by Alter Kaker (Gravitation is a theory, not a fact. It should be approached with an open mind...)
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To: lormand
Telling your enemies that you are sending troops is a mistake.

Why? They're sending troops to the region, not giving away operational details.

The goal is to avoid using the GIGN, using the threat of an attack to convince the terrorists to let their hostages go without bloodshed.

The GIGN doesn't have a great record of taking low value targets prisoner. If I were the terrorists I'd think I'd bitten off a bit more than I can chew.

16 posted on 04/07/2008 1:38:57 PM PDT by Alter Kaker (Gravitation is a theory, not a fact. It should be approached with an open mind...)
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To: Alter Kaker

At this point, if I were the gunmen, I’d make plans for my imminent demise. GIGN doesn’t take prisoners a whole lot when engaged in CT. Few do, but the SAS and GIGN are particularly rough customers.


17 posted on 04/07/2008 1:41:03 PM PDT by Braak (The US Military, the real arms inspectors!)
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To: kingattax

Since Sarkozy Ive ended my boycott and stopped making anti French jokes. I wish their “elite troops” good hunting and the safe return of French citizens.


18 posted on 04/07/2008 1:41:38 PM PDT by DogBarkTree (The correct word isn't "immigrant" when what they are doing is "invading".)
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To: DogBarkTree
I wish their “elite troops” good hunting

Yep. If they're greenlighted, the bad guys will die.

19 posted on 04/07/2008 1:45:12 PM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: DogBarkTree

What interests me more is why GIGN and not Commando Hulbert? I thought Commando Hulbert trained more often for maratime CT? Or has GIGN been training for that?


20 posted on 04/07/2008 1:46:09 PM PDT by Braak (The US Military, the real arms inspectors!)
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