Donâ€™t Mess With the French Military

Here's how to put the scale of Islamic State's attacks into perspective. Within a span of few weeks, the radical Islamist group carried out the deadliest terror attack in modern French history, killing 129 people, and the deadliest attack in modern Turkish history--the Oct. 10 Ankara bombing, which killed 102.

Between the two, I.S. blew up a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai, killing 224. Another 44 people died in suicide blasts in a Hezbollah-controlled Beirut neighborhood, the worst terror attack in the city since the end of the Lebanese civil war. A drumbeat of suicide bombings in Baghdad killed dozens.

In other words, Islamic State has launched a war on the civilian populations of all its major adversaries--NATO, Russia, Iraq and an Iranian ally.

A day after the Paris bloodbath, French Pres. Francois Hollande called the murders "an act of war that was committed by a terrorist army, a jihadist army, Daesh, against France." French Prime Minister Manuel Valls vowed to "annihilate the enemies of the republic."

All of Islamic State's enemies will likely strike back hard. But don't underestimate France. Its military has been one of the most aggressive in battling Islamist groups from Mali to Afghanistan.

France has been at war with Islamic State since September 2014 under the name Operation Chammal. Paris can call on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle--due to arrive Nov. 18 near the Middle East to support the war--and her assortment of Rafale and Super Etendard strike aircraft. A French two-star general is also attached to U.S. Central Command.

Do you think France could bomb ISIS without US assistance? We will provide security for their carrier group, an air corridor, targeting information...assist every step along the way.

Yesterday they sent 12 planes, 10 of which were combat aircraft. Not sure where they took off from, but likely a US controlled air strip of from France, with RAF or US refuelers.

6th strongest military means behind US, China, Russia, India...and just in the same shot group as most other NATO nations.

Of course they’re a nuke nation (they are famous for they’re adoption of nuclear power plants). And they have adopted a doctrine similar to ours in the Eisenhower years - defensive and based on deterrence. They are not geared towards projecting power.

Frankly, outside of NATO, their ‘business’ is tending to he relics of a colonial era in Africa, and selling weapons to the middle east.

I see your personal interest lies in your friendship with a few members of the French military. That is anecdotal. They may be fine people and great soldiers/sailors...but that has absolutely nothing to do with their nation’s military capabilities. They quite simply don’t have enough fuelers to conduct large scale air operations abroad, don’t have enough air lift to move a measureable amount of people or equipment into a theater abroad, and (as are other NATO nations) very dependent on the US for targeting and command and control. Again, its just the way it is.

Agree with most of what you said, except your claim they are in the same shot group as most other NATO nations.
France and England are ranked shoulder to shoulder, but the rest of NATO is extremely far behind except Germany which is still down the ladder from the above two. No other NATO nation makes the top ten.

The French Rafale is not to be sneezed at. For such a small country in comparison to all the other ranked military forces except Gr. Britain, I think France holds its end up very well.

I think Turkey is in the same class as France or Germany, as far as military goes (not that I’d depend on Turkey, but they are in NATO.

And I guess when I think of NATO, I really think of UK, Germany, France, and Turkey. So yes, France is in the Top Tier of NATO...and the lower tier is orders of magnitude behind the top tier.

But I still don’t think France could project power abroad on its own, without NATO (with the exception of a nuclear strike). Their military just isn’t built that way. I’m not saying its bad...its a logical choice they have made. They will rely on themselves for defense, and only project power as an auxiliary of NATO.

I just don’t think they could even have done this 20 bomb raid yesterday without a US protected corridor.

You may be right, but as I said, I do agree with most of your assertions. Turkey is listed I think around 10th....not sure.

It would be interesting to follow their bomb raids to find out the logistics. Wish I had the time.

Enjoy your posts as well as others who have some actual knowledge. I do get tired of those know-nothings constantly bashing the French.

“I do get tired of those know-nothings constantly bashing the French.”

I am very conflicted about the French. I have French heritage, and a French surname...but I am a little queasy about the French Vichy period. It seems like they rolled over a little too easily, and let the Nazis round up French Jews. Quite frankly, I’ve always believed that the French complicity in the holocaust has been an overlooked part of history.

And I know that’s ancient history, but they seem so unapologetic about it. And it manifests itself today in a very un-American attitude in France. Tourists are told not to act American, our NATO member wouldn’t let us fly over on the way to Libya, etc. In high school, we had a French foreign exchange student. I tried to befriend him, and I sort of did - but it was tiring to hear him tell me how much better everything in France was. It was as if he had no sense of history - instead of bragging about France’s superiority, perhaps he should have visited a war cemetery to thank some people.

Anyway, I can understand the anti-French sentiment. Yes, usually it is boiled down to jokes about dropping rifles...but I understand the sentiment.

I’m actually critical of most of Europe...especially what Rumsfeld called ‘old Europe’. These nations spent the colonial period using the world as a chess board, trying to exploit labor and resources...and generally screwing up any semblance of order that may have existed in Africa or the mid-east (and those places are still in disarray), started a couple of hellish global wars, and nearly exterminated the Jews...and their descendants look down their noses at the rest of the world. I find it maddening.

Especially European bashing of Israel. The Europeans (led by the British) set up Israel as a place to solve their ‘Jewish problem’. And now they complain when the Israeli’s build houses in the west bank? Truly maddening.

So, in the words of my former platoon sgt, I’m an equal opportunity racist, I hate everybody :)

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.