Posted on 09/30/2013 5:43:28 AM PDT by SJackson
France was ready for a strike on chemical weapons facilities in Syria on the day US President Barack Obama decided to seek approval from Congress for the strike, French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur reported on Sunday.
According to the weekly, French President Francois Hollande called off the strike on August 31, after readying his military for the strike, and preparing to justify it to the French people and the world.
Rafale fighter jets, armed with Scalp cruise missiles with a range of 250 km, were ready to fire at targets in western Syria, including Damascus, the paper reported. The jets were to attack while flying over international waters in the Mediterranean, avoiding Turkish airspace to prevent Syrian retaliation against its neighbor.
French government officials had statements ready for when the strike starts, and the French intelligence had prepared a declassified report with evidence showing chemical weapons were used on August 21 in Damascus.
The strike was due to start at 3 a.m. on September 1, while everyone are asleep, to minimize civilian casualties, a government official told the paper.
After receiving indications from the Americans that the strike was imminent in the days leading up to the US president's announcement, Obama called Hollande on Saturday August 31 at 6:15 p.m., telling him he had decided to ask for Congress's approval before going ahead with the strike.
Hollande was stunned, the paper reported, and tried to convince Obama to reconsider, but was unsuccessful.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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The wisdom of a strike aside, not a confidence builder. Not sure it matters, I doubt many world leaders consider Obama reliable.
1. It DOESN'T matter. The Arabs have been at war with each other ever since there WERE Arabs. Nothing new. It won't stop until God ends our world.
2. Your opinion about Obama is right on the money.
sounds like...........They want War!!!!!!
If word on the street is to be believed, Obama sided with the NY Slimes editorial board over our allies.
Personally I’m glad he did, but it’s shocking.
A more important question: Why did the kenyan dictator decide to go to congress on this? Was it real fear of impeachment and removal if he didn't?
France still thought that the USA was a leadership nation, a bold decisive nation, the very thing she has not been since 2008.
Usually it is France that “leads from behind”, not America.
I doubt many world leaders consider Obama stable. As Obama flounders on the world and domestic stage his incompetence and lack of experience are manifested through his actions or lack thereof, he is entering a panic mode and is becoming unstable and dangerous. As any weapons grade elements that become unstable, they should be closely monitored, safely removed and properly disposed of.
The unanswered question now before us is, which stage has he reached? Is he being closely monitored, prepared for removal or readied for proper disposal?
This was always about Saudi/Qatar oil and gas for France, instead of Russian oil and gas, and using the US as bully to get it.
Obama promised to make America more like the European countries.
Now he has made America so much like France that even the French are embarrassed.
My only question is why was France waiting on us. Unlike France, we will not condemn France on the world stage for using their military in pursuit of their national interests. Go ahead and shoot some cruise missiles at Syria. We’re not stopping you Hollande.
Soo, France had already ripped sheets into little white flags?
You know France still has The French Foreign Legion; they should be keeping them fully engaged!
“while everyone are asleep, to minimize civilian casualties”
eh?
how does striking sleeping civilians minimize casualties again
and everyone “are” asleep?
these people are cuckoo
byw, if France is for it, it must be the wrong thing, since France likes to throw down their weapons
bingo
lol
I see it more as a case of one socialist (Hollande) brown-nosing a more powerful socialist...and getting made a fool of for his troubles.
Both their determined socialist governance mixed in with erratic and sometimes dangerous flights of ideological fancy follow the same path as other leftist dictators, and, in reality, they are not the odd couple, but the perfect couple.
World wide, however, in this "bomb Syria" case, they were the odd couple out.
Leni
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