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September 09, 2006
Profiles in courage, Gallic Edition
I received a stern rebuke the other day for cracking wise about the French (zut alors!).
Hey, I love the idea of France; the food, the wine, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Foreign Legion, gorgeous, chic women and delicious little pastries. As you may have noticed, I even like some of their cars.
But whenever my fond memories of time spent as a student in Paris seem ascendant, I receive a reminder of why ze French are not to be trusted, admired, or respected.
Remember how Israel was supposed to stand down and step aside for a French and Italian force of U.N. peacekeepers? The U.N. force was supposed to ensure that Hezbollah abided by the terms of the ceasefire.
Well, according to Captain Ed, things haven't worked out.
When Israel agreed to lift the air and sea blockade of Lebanon two days ago, the UN promised that the forces replacing them would interdict arms intended to resupply their enemy, Hezbollah. France, which will provide substantial forces in controlling sea access to Lebanon, now says its military will not use force to stop anything:
France announced on Friday that the international naval force designated to patrol Lebanon's territorial waters would not be authorized to employ force to stop ships from entering or leaving Lebanon.
A spokesman for the French defense ministry said that the international craft would only provide assistance for Lebanese ships, and would not interfere with other nations' boats, Israel Radio reported.
Earlier Friday, Israel began to remove its naval blockade of Lebanon, imposed almost two months after Hizbullah launched its cross-border raid and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.
One has to ask why France and Italy even bothered to show up. Relying on the Lebanese is what started this war in the first place. The Siniora government never bothered to make an attempt at compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which required them to disarm Hezbollah. They were either unwilling or unable, or a combination of both, to make that common-sense move; they stood by and watched Hezbollah add to their arsenals.
Now the UN forces propose to do the same thing all over again. France sent a military force to the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon to essentially do nothing but observe boats going in and out of the harbor. They may just as well have sent a regatta crowd to Tyre and fired up a few barbeques. Perhaps the French believe that a simple finger-wagging and a vicious tongue-lashing will force arms merchants to flee from Lebanon, with French scolding ringing in their ears?
This is another example of the UN's betrayal of Israel during this cease-fire process. At every step, the UN has promised to provide the security Israel requires in order to get the IDF to withdraw, only to see the component forces declare openly that they have no intention of fulfilling the mission. And of all the nations complicit in this disaster, France has been the most perfidious. They insisted on setting the terms of the cease-fire, and then have consistently reneged on support. It proves yet again that the only thing worse that having France arrayed against you is having them allied with you.
When will the world learn? You don't tug on Superman's cape; you don't spit into the wind; you don't pull the mask of the old Lone Ranger; and you don't bet you life on the French providing a knock-off Maginot Line, answerable to the United Nations.
Or on a navy that scored it's last notable victory when it sank the Greenpeace research ship Rainbow Warrior.
In all fairness to the French military, it's not really their fault; it's the political leadership that's been reprehensible, for more than 200 hundred years.
Posted by Mike Lief at September 9, 2006 07:25 AM
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Comments
Cheeseburger and fries please ... make that freedom fries.
Posted by: Kamal at September 10, 2006 07:27 PM
France doesn't do anything because they would like nothing more than Israel eliminated. They are nothing more than racist cowards.
Posted by: jim at September 12, 2006 09:34 AM
Thats a bit harsh, I don't think its any better than you do, but I don't think they hate Israel or the Jews either, they're just cowards. France hasn't figured out yet that muslim extremists are a bad thing, and until a terrorist attack lands on their soil, they probably won't.
Posted by: Nic at September 16, 2006 06:02 AM