Posted on 12/17/2004 9:24:31 AM PST by knighthawk
PARIS -- The Yanks are leaving - and many French didn't even realize they were here. The last U.S. military contingent in France said adieu to the country on Friday with a fittingly low-key ceremony. With European forces taking over peacekeeping in Bosnia, the Americans are being redeployed elsewhere, thus ending a chapter of unsung cooperation between Paris and Washington.
Little known even to some experts, the 774th Expeditionary Air Base Group of about 100 airmen wrapped up its decade-long mission at a huge air base in the balmy Mediterranean town of Istres.
The pullout had nothing to do with trans-Atlantic squabbling that erupted over the U.S.-led war in Iraq, but with the end of a NATO peacekeeping role in Bosnia earlier this month, officials said.
"There's nothing symbolic about it," said military expert Etienne de Durand of the French Institute of International Relations in Paris. "This is mainly a technical maneuver."
"If the American government had wanted to annoy the French, it would have used a little more visible method," he said.
French-American relations frayed in the run-up to the Iraq war, when President Jacques Chirac led international opposition to the U.S.-led campaign to oust Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein.
Col. Joe Abbott, who oversees U.S. Air Force operations in Istres from Aviano Air Base in Italy, said bonds between the French and American air forces transcend any political discord.
"Political disagreements come and go, but our alliance is stronger than that," he said. "Our relationship with the French air force is something that's been very stable and dependable."
The force, made up mainly of reservists and Air National Guard airmen, will return home and could face redeployment in a less cushy location - possibly Iraq, Abbott said. They are the last large-scale American military force remaining in France, he said.
To many, the mere presence of U.S. forces on French soil these days may have appeared strange. But since 1994, Istres had served as a launch pad for U.S. KC-135 airborne refueling planes supporting NATO jets enforcing a no-fly zone and some U2 spy planes over the Balkans.
That mission continued quietly in the background of the sharp decline in French-American ties.
"With the crisis over Iraq ... we've been going through a cold period," de Durand said, citing a recent American snub of France for the multinational combat exercise in the United States known as "Red Flag" - to which the French had been invited in previous years.
However, "behind the scenes, technical cooperation continues in many areas," he added, noting France's support in the U.S.-led fight against terrorism.
France is arguably America's oldest military ally, dating back to French general Marquis de Lafayette's support against the British in the American Revolution.
After World War II, some of the U.S. forces that helped free France from Nazi domination were scattered around the country as it rebuilt. But by 1966, President Charles De Gaulle pulled France out of NATO's military wing and closed U.S. bases.
Nearly three decades later, with war in the Balkans and NATO enforcing a no-fly zone over the region, France allowed U.S. forces to return.
With the European Union taking over peacekeeping operations in Bosnia from NATO earlier this month, U.S. forces - tied up mainly in places like Afghanistan and Iraq - are no longer needed in Bosnia.
Abbott, who spoke at Friday's ceremony, said he planned to convey fond feelings expressed by many American airmen who leave Istres behind.
"I'm definitely going to add a 'merci beaucoup' at the end," he said.
Ping
Where's the URL?
they're gonna miss us when we're gone.
Wonder if the US Cemetery group will still be there.
They dug up all the graves of our soliders that died liberating them ???
French people suck.
Yes, but they're not military but come under the American Battlefields Monuments Commission. I remember visiting a US WW I cemetery when I was stationed in Germany. I was looking for the grave of my Mother's uncle who had been killed in WW I. The American who ran the cemetery was extremely helpful but I could tell from speaking with him that he was starved for some American company.
The statement that France is an ally at all is arguable.
They'd have done a flyover of the Arc de Triomphe to remind the French that they're a bunch of cheese-eating surrender-monkeys.
yes, and they'll be inviting us back to get rid of the infestation of Islamic terrorists over there.
Whta?..no "flyover" the Eiffel Tower as they leave..
Lafeyette didnt represent France in the Revolution!
The King told him he couldnt come help America, so he disobeyed and came anyway. There are a few good Frenchmen from time to time, and he was one of them.
Anywho, with the troops gone, who's going to protect France the next time Germany invades (sometime in the next 20 years)?
I agree read our revolutionary war history the french troops did not take part in any fighting till the french fleet arrived and Washington had Cornwallis surrounded at Yorktown.
When the fit hits the shan over there with the Islamofascists we better not go back.
Don't you love the IRONY of it, but, this time, we say " NO " or Terezzas famous words.
Yes,, and they will be crying that the local economy is going down the toilet since they left.
=====
Huh??? They have toilets in France???
I didn't even know we were there.
But I'm glad we are now gone.
But the French did recognize us as a sovereign nation, the first country to do so and giving the U.S. legitimacy in the world community. But that was almost 230 years ago.
Exactly. Working in the international publishing world as I do, it will be interesting to see just how run down the French's "fashion edge" gets when France gets ravaged by the Muslums.
Thanks, but it would be nice to have one that doesn't require registration...
No, the men will go back to dressing like FOPS, with lace hankies hung in their sleeves.
Actually, remember the movie...11 monkies...something like that, with Brad Pitt nd Bruce Willis. That's what France will look like....
Bad thought.
I never saw that movie, nor have the desire to see it, but, you mean ? the 1700s pirates look of the french pirates ?
Yup,, their goverment.
Regardless of that fact, I still have a feeling the french had some other motive in that, than to help us.
Anyway, that was a different time and age.
Sure they did. They did it because it caused problems for the British.
France is also arguably one of America's oldest enemies, dating back to the French and Indian Wars.
yes but did they turn out the lights?
Those guys are sure gonna miss the French wine and brie.
When referring to WWII remember who we fought in Algeria and Morroco??
You should see it. Really, it's a very good movie.
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.