Posted on 09/17/2012 5:25:49 PM PDT by hamboy
“The French weren’t our allies in North Africa until the deal with Darlan went through. Until then they were enemies.
After that they weren’t very useful in Morocco, but at least they weren’t shooting Americans in the back.
And in Italy, after they were refitted and retrained, they cracked and broke open the Gustav line (leading to the final taking of Monte Cassino), where the Americans and British had failed. They were good soldiers.”
My mistake. I was alluding more to the uncertainty to the reception we would receive from them. Afterwards, I have never heard of reports of the French deceiving us, or shooting intentionally in the back.
This is the best news I’ve seen in weeks, and I’m not kidding.
Now bring our guys home.
But why would we want to bother? The "graveyard of empires" has no strategic value.
The Weinberger doctrine:
1.The United States should not commit forces to combat unless the vital national interests of the United States or its allies are involved. 2.U.S. troops should only be committed wholeheartedly and with the clear intention of winning. Otherwise, troops should not be committed. 3.U.S. combat troops should be committed only with clearly defined political and military objectives and with the capacity to accomplish those objectives. 4.The relationship between the objectives and the size and composition of the forces committed should be continually reassessed and adjusted if necessary. 5.U.S. troops should not be committed to battle without a "reasonable assurance" of the support of U.S. public opinion and Congress. 6.The commitment of U.S. troops should be considered only as a last resort.
French forces didn’t have orders to permit the Allied landings. In fact they were under orders to resist. Some fought harder than others, some surrendered immediately. The general ceasefire came from orders issued by the French commanders (Darlan and Juin) who had fortunately been captured in Algiers by the Free French guerillas. Otherwise the fighting could have gone on longer than the three days (Nov 8-10) it did.
Last American out sets the timer.
BUT Taliban in pursuit of him dead or alive that special contingent of British troops assigned for the security of Apache gunner Capt Wales.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.