French troops save 2 hostages from Somali pirates

France dispatched elite commandos to free two French hostages under cover of night, then called on other nations to join in taking decisive action against Somali pirates disrupting commerce and aid operations off the East African coast.

French troops wearing night-vision goggles killed one pirate, captured six others and pulled the French Polynesian couple to safety in an overnight operation described by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a triumphant press conference.

He pressed other countries to follow his nation's example and take on the pirates instead of negotiating.

"The world cannot accept this. Today, these are no longer isolated cases but a genuine industry of crime," Sarkozy told reporters in Paris. "This industry casts doubt on a fundamental freedom: that of movement and of international commerce."

Sarkozy said piracy in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia has "literally exploded" this year, with some 54 attacks in the heavily trafficked zone so far this year.

He added that Somali pirates are holding 150 people and at least 15 ships, mainly in Eyl, a Somali area that serves as a base for pirates who have been seizing yachts, freighters and fishing boats.

Sarkozy said France will take action in the U.N. Security Council, where it has a permanent seat, to mobilize the international community against piracy.

The problem with France has never been the military ...it has always been a mix of (some) aspects of leadership coupled with a highly vocal segment of the general population (primarily that in and around Paris). The French military, on the other hand, is an extremely professional and lethal armed force, which has served very well in many regional conflicts (e.g. in Afghanistan, as well as other regions ....some of their actions in West Africa have been very un-PC). The French military are the people who sent frogmen to sink some Greenpeace ship (the 'Rainbow Warrior' which was sank by French intelligence services in the so called 'Operation Satanic,' where they sank it in New Zealand) that was trying to interrupt their nuclear tests a while back. Anti-Islamic terrorist policies in France are some of the toughest in the globe, with French judges given such absolute powers over suspected Jihadis that Guantanamo looks like a summer camp.

I know on FR there is a tendency to see the French as surrender monkeys, and I know that Chirac was a major joke. However, for most of their history (apart from the several decades after WW2, and the Vichy part of WW2, when several successive French leaders liked to stick their thumbs up their @$$e$) the French have been quite ....well ....let's say more of their history is by far closer to Napoleon than to Chirac.

Also note that even when they had senile leadership the French military still performed brilliantly, even when hampered by such stuff.

Anyways, while it is 'cool' to mock the French, their military is actually one of the best, is exceedingly proficient, and does not take things for granted (unlike the Brits, who are trying to cancel their future nuclear SLBM submarine forces).

Actually, talking about the Brits ....you do know their soldiers were kidnapped by the Iranians some months back. Kidnapped on the open sea by Iranians in zodiac inflatables! (A sad after story was the British sailor who was crying after his IPod was taken away). The Iranians tried the same thing a few weeks later on some French sailors, and got chased off with tracer fire.

I wonder who the surrender monkeys are?

Anyways, I do not think that Sarkozy put the French on the offensive ....he simply brought back France to what it used to be before WW2.

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