View Full Version : French Soldiers Deployed to Qatar
John Corn
03-23-03, 08:27 AM
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/22/sprj.irq.french.deployment/index.html
Last week, the French ambassador to Washington, Jean-David Levitte, told CNN that France was prepared to deploy such specialists if Iraq were to launch a chemical or biological attack against the U.S. and its "coalition of the willing."
Well, it's a step in the right direction. A baby step, mind you, but a step none the less.
I, for one, don't understand why Qatar needs this protection. Anyone more educated than I am?
George_F
03-23-03, 11:42 AM
I bet he people of Qatar feel really safe.
Seriously though I wouldnt let France defend anything of mine.
gcutler
03-23-03, 11:44 AM
They probably felt the war needed some curtain treatments and some quiche and stinky cheeses.
If it is the French Foreign Legion, then they might be there to fight, because the French don't care what happens to the Foreign Legion and have always used them as cannon fodder when inconvenient (Can you say Diem-Bien-Phu or Algeria). If real French troops, then I go back to the beginning of my post as the answer.
John Corn
03-23-03, 09:19 PM
I think it's nothing more than a cautious diplomatic move by the French, but I was hoping for more insight.
I think it is the same as the support we are now receiving from many other members of the "coalition of the willing," they think we screwed up bigtime in how we handled this whole situation, but now that we have gone ahead and done it they are willing to make the best of it. Unless we are going to continue to be arrogant asses about some other nation having the audacity to disagree with with us on the best means of solving a mutually agreed upon problem.
firephoto
03-23-03, 09:46 PM
Bogy so elegantly stated.........
I think it is the same as the support we are now receiving from many other members of the "coalition of the willing," they think we screwed up bigtime in how we handled this whole situation, but now that we have gone ahead and done it they are willing to make the best of it. Unless we are going to continue to be arrogant asses about some other nation having the audacity to disagree with with us on the best means of solving a mutually agreed upon problem.
It's good to know that you can think what they think. :lol:
Amazing how "they think we screwed up bigtime in how we handled this whole situation".
Nice to see your support for our (as in your "we") "arrogant asses" that are fighting a war against terrorism.
Looks like Russia would be able to mutally agree on the Iraq situation. That is if it was about how their weapons are killing our troops.
Firephoto, I fully admit that I refuse to look at the world though red, white and blue lenses. I am a liberal, I keep and open mind. It hasn't been to difficult to find information on how the rest of the world has reacted to our current leader over the past 2 years. Our screwing up of this situation has been an ongoing process of ignoring anything of interest to the rest of the world, and then a demand that the rest of the world jump when we said "jump." And that, dear firephoto, is what I would define as arrogant. I'm all for fighting terrorism, but I'm not going to pretend that I think this administration chosen the right way to do this, just to be "patriotically correct."
Chris Freeland
03-24-03, 02:23 PM
Sometimes real leaders have to do what is wright instead of what is popular. President Bush and especially Prime Minister Tony Blair of GB are courages for doing the wright thing rather then listening to the general populations in the rest of the world. Maby if more people would of listened to Winston Churchill sooner, before WWll and stopped Hitler early, perhaps millions of lives around the world could have ben saved. It just amazes me that well educated people seam to have forgotten the lessens learned from WWll.
"Maby if more people would of listened to Winston Churchill sooner, before WWll and stopped Hitler early, perhaps millions of lives around the world could have ben saved. "
Or maybe if people had listened to Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations had been a success, the German people would not not have embraced Hitler to begin with. We can play that "what-if" game all day, Chris. What good is winning a war if the result is that you will have to fight another war in every generation thereafter?
Perhaps that is the REAL lesson of WWII.
Originally posted by Chris Freeland
Sometimes real leaders have to do what is wright instead of what is popular. President Bush and especially Prime Minister Tony Blair of GB are courages for doing the wright thing rather then listening to the general populations in the rest of the world. Maby if more people would of listened to Winston Churchill sooner, before WWll and stopped Hitler early, perhaps millions of lives around the world could have ben saved. It just amazes me that well educated people seam to have forgotten the lessens learned from WWll. The lesson of WW2 is that we had to do WW1 over. Because of how we allowed WW1 to end we had to go back. Thats the real lesson. Not that you have to start fighting sooner, but to derail the elements that you end up fighting about when you let the cancer grow to long.
BobMurdoch
03-25-03, 10:40 AM
The French are probably going to Qatar to protect Al-Jazeera.
To paraphrase Dennis Miller, "When comparing Bush and Hussein..... Hussein is the bad guy."
I know that they have a lot of money invested there, but how cynical to you have to be to STILL defend this guy.
BobMurdoch
03-25-03, 10:41 AM
sorry, duplicate post deleted
It's all about positioning in anticipation of grabbing a share of the 'spoils of war'. France, in particular, wants to make sure that certain secret oil contracts and other 'under-the-table' agreements are kept hidden or destroyed altogether.
Cherac: Saddam, Saddam, can you hear me?
Hussein: Yes, Jacques, I hear you. I'm sorta busy right now and I've still got one helluva headache. What is it now?
Cherac: Looks like the US is going to kick your ass afterall. We tried in the UN, but no luck stopping the Americans, they are too powerful for us.
Hussein: What's your point you little wimpy-ass weasle.
Cherac: Saddy, my friend, I need a favor. Please make sure that all our agreements get shredded or burned, will ya? I'm afraid if the Americans find them, they will want to kick our French asses.
Hussein: Sorry, Jacques, no can do. If those crazy Americans get this far. your problems are the least of my worries. Unless.....?
Cherac: Unless what, my friend?
Hussein: Unless you happen to know of a nice little villa in the south of France??????
James_F
03-25-03, 12:53 PM
During the time after 9/11, french aircraft where stationed here in the US to protect our coasts from attack. They are gone now, but for a couple months we had french and german aircrew on the coasts. Boy how do times change.
well, i certainly felt more secure knowing the french were on the coast protecting me from...a bottle of bad wine maybe???
gcutler
03-25-03, 01:49 PM
Originally posted by James_F
During the time after 9/11, french aircraft where stationed here in the US to protect our coasts from attack. They are gone now, but for a couple months we had french and german aircrew on the coasts. Boy how do times change.
They were just protecting all those overweight european men in speedos that had taken over Florida beaches (YECH!!!) :p
James_F
03-25-03, 01:51 PM
Don't need the mental pictures.... :bang
OK how about this?
http://www.jokeuniversity.com/picpages/speedo.gif
We have our own way of protecting our beaches....
Come on guys. Enough with trashing the French.
The French helped us during the American revolution and have been close allies through many, many years. They have no despotic leaders who kill their own people, they haven't blown up any of our buildings. Is this how we want to treat one of our closest allies?
If Tony Blair is replaced by someone who's less warm to the US, will you start trashing GB?
gcutler
03-25-03, 03:21 PM
Sure Why Not!?
James_F
03-25-03, 03:24 PM
If you can't joke about the french who can you joke about?
I think those pictures violate the Geneva Conventions against cruel and inhumane displays!
Originally posted by Nick
It's all about positioning in anticipation of grabbing a share of the 'spoils of war'.
Then we should be glad that France didn't want to join in. We might have to let them have a bigger share. After all, we already threatened them that we wouldn't let Iraq pay them the 5 billion they already owe France. And we might have had to let the French in on the 900 million in "rebuilding Iraq" contracts to be let in the next week. That might have cut into Haliburton's share, and seriously affected the VP's kickbacks. (Hey, if you can't make fun of a Vice President, who can you make fun of?)
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